Protelytroptera

Phylum:Arthropoda

Clade:Pancrustacea

Class:Insecta

Cohort:Polyneoptera

Protelytroptera
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Clade:	Pancrustacea
Class:	Insecta
Cohort:	Polyneoptera
Order:	†Protelytroptera Tillyard, 1931
Families[1][2][3][4]
Apachelytridae Archelytridae Bardocoleidae Dermelytridae Elytroneuridae Labidelytridae Megelytridae Permelytridae Permophilidae Planelytridae Protelytridae Protocoleidae Stephanastidae
Synonyms[3][1]
Protocoleoptera Tillyard, 1924 Paracoleoptera Laurentiaux, 1953 Skleroptera Kirejtshuk and Nel, 2013

Protelytroptera is an extinct order of insects thought to be a stem group from which the modern Dermaptera evolved. These insects, which resemble modern Blattodea, or cockroaches, are known from the Permian of North America, Europe and Australia, from the fossils of their shell-like forewings and the large, unequal anal fan. None of their fossils are known from the Triassic, when the morphological changes from Protelytroptera to Dermaptera presumably took place.^[5]