The case of the taxonomy of the insect species bronsoni Dana, 1864, yielded from the deposit of Mazon Creek (IL, USA; Westphalian, Pennsylvanian), is investigated. The species contusa Scudder, 1885, infernus Scudder, 1885, clarinervis Melander, 1903, extensa Melander, 1903, indistinctus Melander, 1903, ambulans Handlirsch, 1906, analis Handlirsch, 1906: 700, longicollis Handlirsch, 1911, lata Handlirsch, 1911, elatior Handlirsch, 1911, schucherti Handlirsch, 1911, acutipennis Handlirsch, 1911, parvula Handlirsch, 1911, and angusta Handlirsch, 1911 are considered as junior synonyms of bronsoni. A neotype is designated for this species. The species bronsoni and silvatica Laurentiaux & Laurentiaux-Vieira, 1980 (yielded from the North Coal Basin, France; Westphalian, Pennsylvanian) share the character state ‘in forewings, CuPa fuses with M + CuA’. This character state is used for defining the taxon Miamia nom. DANA 1864, nov. dis.-typ. under cladotypic taxonomy. It is demonstrated that bronsoni and silvatica belong to the taxon Archaeorthoptera nom. Béthoux & Nel, 2002a, dis.-typ. Béthoux 2007e. In particular, these species are closely related to lobeattid insects such as schneideri Béthoux, 2005, a new specimen of which is illustrated. The species bronsoni appears to be one of the most frequent insect species of the Mazon Creek entomofauna.

Protorthoptera, Eoblatta, Spanioderidae, Miamia, Spaniodera, Propteticus, Anthraconeura, cladotypic nomenclature