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Open AccessA new method for examining the co-occurrence network of fossil assemblages
Currently, studies of ancient faunal community networks have been based mostly on uniformitarian and functional morphological evidence. As an important source of data, taphonomic evidence offers the opportunit...
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Open AccessIndependent wing reductions and losses among stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea), supported by new Cretaceous fossils in amber
Phasmatodea (stick and leaf insects) play a central role on the debate regarding wing reduction and loss, and its wings are putative reacquisition from secondarily wingless ancestors based solely on extant spe...
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A new Middle Jurassic cockroach (Blattaria: Blattulidae) from the Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou in China
Species of Pseudomantina Sendi et Vršanský, 2021 in the family of Blattulidae Vishniakova, 1982, the peculiar and possibly predatory cockroach genus, have been reported from Upper Jurassic Karatau compression sed...
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Open AccessJurassic scorpionflies (Mecoptera) with swollen first metatarsal segments suggesting sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is widespread in insects. The certain specialized structures may be used as weapons in male–male combats or as ornaments to enhance mating opportunities.
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Using full-length metabarcoding and DNA barcoding to infer community assembly for speciose taxonomic groups: a case study
How insect communities are assembled in nature remains largely unknown. In particular, whether habitat filtering or competition serves as the main mechanism in forming insect communities is rarely subject to a...
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Cretaceous ants shed new light on the origins of worker polymorphism
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Open AccessNew insects feeding on dinosaur feathers in mid-Cretaceous amber
Due to a lack of Mesozoic fossil records, the origins and early evolution of feather-feeding behaviors by insects are obscure. Here, we report ten nymph specimens of a new lineage of insect, Mesophthirus engeli g...
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Open AccessLife habits and evolutionary biology of new two-winged long-proboscid scorpionflies from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber
Long-proboscid scorpionflies are enigmatic, mid-Mesozoic insects associated with gymnosperm pollination. One major lineage, Aneuretopsychina, consists of four families plus two haustellate clades, Diptera and ...
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Open AccessMirolydidae, a new family of Jurassic pamphilioid sawfly (Hymenoptera) highlighting mosaic evolution of lower Hymenoptera
We describe Pamphilioidea: Mirolydidae Wang, Rasnitsyn et Ren, fam. n., containing Mirolyda hirta Wang, Rasnitsyn et Ren, gen. et sp. n., from the late Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou, Inner Mon...
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The first fossil Athyreini beetle (Coleoptera: Geotrupidae)
The first fossil Athyreini in the subfamily of Bolboceratinae from the family of Geotrupidae, †Amberathyreus beuteli Bai et Zhang gen. et sp. nov., is described based on a specimen from the mid-Cretaceous Myanmar...
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Open AccessThe first fossil salmonfly (Insecta: Plecoptera: Pteronarcyidae), back to the Middle Jurassic
The fossil record of Plecoptera (stoneflies) is considered relatively complete, with stem-groups of each of the three major lineages, viz. Antarctoperlaria, Euholognatha and Systellognatha (and some of their f...
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Open AccessA new xyelotomid (Hymenoptera) from the Middle Jurassic of China displaying enigmatic venational asymmetry
Pterygota insects typically have symmetric veins in left and right wings. For studying taxonomy and phylogeny of fossil insects, venational patterns are commonly used as diagnostic characters, in conjunction w...
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Hybosorus ocampoi: the first hybosorid from the Cretaceous Myanmar amber (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea)
The Hybosoridae is a cosmopolitan family of Scarabaeoidea that is most diverse in the tropics. Up to now, all published Mesozoic hybosorids were compression fossils, except for one from Lebanon amber which is ...
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Open AccessNew fossil ephialtitids elucidating the origin and transformation of the propodeal-metasomal articulation in Apocrita (Hymenoptera)
Apocrita has a special structure that its first abdominal segment has been incorporated into the thorax as the propodeum. The remaining abdomen, metasoma, is connected to this hybrid region via a narrow propod...
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Open AccessThe first flea with fully distended abdomen from the Early Cretaceous of China
Fleas, the most notorious insect ectoparasites of human, dogs, cats, birds, etc., have recently been traced to its basal and primitive ancestors during the Middle Jurassic. Compared with extant fleas, these la...
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Open AccessA new Cretaceous genus of xyelydid sawfly illuminating nygmata evolution in Hymenoptera
Nygmata are prominent glandular structures on the wings of insects. They have been documented in some extant insects, including several families of Neuroptera and Mecoptera, the majority of Trichoptera, and a ...
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Open AccessMesozoic lacewings from China provide phylogenetic insight into evolution of the Kalligrammatidae (Neuroptera)
The Kalligrammatidae are distinctive, large, conspicuous, lacewings found in Eurasia from the Middle Jurassic to mid Early Cretaceous. Because of incomplete and often inadequate fossil preservation, an absence...
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Open AccessA giant spider from the Jurassic of China reveals greater diversity of the orbicularian stem group
A large female spider, Nephila jurassica, was described from Middle Jurassic strata of north-east China and placed in the modern genus Nephila (family Nephilidae) on the basis of many morphological similarities, ...
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An exquisitely preserved harvestman (Arthropoda, Arachnida, Opiliones) from the Middle Jurassic of China
Sclerosomatids constitute the largest family of the arachnid order Opiliones, and one of the two families commonly found in the temperate regions of the northern Hemisphere. Harvestmen have a sparse fossil rec...
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Open AccessTransitional fossil earwigs - a missing link in Dermaptera evolution
The Dermaptera belongs to a group of winged insects of uncertain relationship within Polyneoptera, which has expanded anal region and adds numerous anal veins in the hind wing. Evolutional history and origin o...
