ABSTRACT
Until now (Moore 1966), the Scutellidae were thought to make their first appearance in the lower Oligocene and to include the genera Scutella, Parascutella and Parmulechinus. According to the present author, the genus Samlandaster, which includes S.germanicus (Beyrich) and S.dineuri Roman, and the genus Scutulum, which includes S.parisiense Tournouer (this species is described here), are ancestral Scutellidae. It follows that the Scutellidae need to be redefined and that this family makes its first appearance in the middle Eocene. A cladogram shows the relationships between S. dineuri and the usual scutellids. Among them, Parmulechinus agassizi (Oppenheim) seems to descend from S. dineuri through a peramorphic process. Eoscutum doncieuxi (Lambert) from the early lower Eocene is suggested to be the stem stock of the Scutellidae.
