Recently, scientists from China and the UK reported two Middle-Late Triassic entomofaunas, providing not only the earliest records of several modern insect elements, but also new insights into the early evolution of freshwater ecosystems. This study confirms that holometabolous and aquatic insects experienced extraordinary diversification about 237 million years ago. The research was published in Science Advances.
Dr. Zheng Daran and Prof. Wang Bo, researchers at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), discovered a late Ladinian Tongchuan entomofauna and a Carnian Karamay entomofauna in northwestern China. These entomofaunas provide new evidence for understanding the process of insect diversification.
Representative fossils from Tongchuan and Karamay entomofaunas. Tongchuan entomofauna (A to C, E to J, and L to O) and Karamay entomofauna (D and K). (A) Zygophlebia (Odonatoptera: Zygophlebiidae), NIGP163160; (B) Locustavidae (Orthoptera), NIGP162042; (C) Prochoristella (Mecoptera: Permochoristidae), NIGP162043; (D) Corixidae, NIGP162044; (E) Boreocixius (Hemiptera: Surijokocixiidae), NIGP162045; (F) Dunstaniidae (Hemiptera), NIGP162046; (G) Aphidoidea (Hemiptera), NIGP162047; (H) Chauliodites (Grylloblattida: Chaulioditidae), NIGP162048; (I) Cicadocorinae (Hemiptera: Progonocimicidae), NIGP162049; (J) Ichnogenus Folindusia (Trichoptera), NIGP162050; (K) Ichnogenus Terrindusia (Trichoptera), NIGP162051; (L) Myxophaga (Coleoptera), NIGP162052; (M) Elateriformia (Coleoptera), NIGP162053; (N) Dytiscoidea (Coleoptera), NIGP162054; (O) Cicadocorinae (Hemiptera: Progonocimicidae), NIGP162055. Scale bars, 5 mm (white), and 1 mm (black). (Image: via Science Advances)
Middle-Late Triassic insects
The Tongchuan entomofauna contains at least 28 insect families in 11 orders, making it among the most diverse Middle-Late Triassic entomofaunas. The Karamay entomofauna comprises 10 insect families in six orders, including caddisfly cases and the earliest known water boatmen.
The Tongchuan entomofauna includes diverse fossil beetles with bodies, making them potential key calibration points for the molecular phylogenetic analysis of beetle phylogeny. Another interesting discovery is the earliest caddisfly cases (Trichoptera) in both entomofaunas.
Triassic terrestrial biodiversifications. (A) Middle Triassic Holometabola radiation and (B) Triassic terrestrial diversifications. The previously earliest records of (1) Corixidae (45), (2) Trichoptera (38), and (3) Lepidoptera (37) are marked by black rectangular bars, and the new records reported in the present study are marked by red rectangular bars. The Triassic terrestrial diversifications are based on the data of holometabola [family richness; (63)], insects [family richness; (14)], plants [generic richness; (9, 64)], plant-arthropod associations [relative richness; (15)], tetrapods [generic richness; (65)], and coal gap (66). I., Induan; Ole., Olenekian; Neo., Neogene. (Image: via Science Advances)
Thus, its high diversity and abundance in Tongchuan and Karamay are relatively unexpected, revealing a radiation of Holometabola during the Middle-Late Triassic. In addition, water boatmen are abundant in the Karamay entomofauna, making them the earliest record of aquatic bugs. These aquatic insects developed new herbivore and carnivore guilds that persist to the present.
![Geology of Tongchuan and Karamay entomofaunas. Geological map showing the location of entomofauna in Karamay City in (A) Xinjiang and (B) Tongchuan City in Shaanxi, Northwest China. (C and D) Stratigraphic column showing lithologies, sample points, and age results. Global paleogeographic reconstructions [Carnian; after Rasnitsyn and Quicke (33) and Golonka (62)], highlighting main coeval insect–bearing localities (E): (1) Tongchuan, China (Ladinian); (2) Karamay, China (Carnian); (3) Madygen, Kyrgyzstan (Ladinian-Carnian); (4) Vosges, France (early Anisian); (5) Solite, USA (late Carnian); (6) Ipswich, Australia (Carnian); (7) Brookvale, Australia (Anisian); and (8) Molteno, South Africa (Carnian). (Image: via Science Advances )](https://vtwp-media.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2018/09/F1.large_.jpg)
Geology of Tongchuan and Karamay entomofaunas. Geological map showing the location of entomofauna in Karamay City in (A) Xinjiang and (B) Tongchuan City in Shaanxi, Northwest China. (C and D) Stratigraphic column showing lithologies, sample points, and age results. Global paleogeographic reconstructions [Carnian; after Rasnitsyn and Quicke (33) and Golonka (62)], highlighting main coeval insect–bearing localities (E): (1) Tongchuan, China (Ladinian); (2) Karamay, China (Carnian); (3) Madygen, Kyrgyzstan (Ladinian-Carnian); (4) Vosges, France (early Anisian); (5) Solite, USA (late Carnian); (6) Ipswich, Australia (Carnian); (7) Brookvale, Australia (Anisian); and (8) Molteno, South Africa (Carnian). (Image: via Science Advances)
Compared to other insects, Holometabola were probably more resilient to Early Triassic environmental disturbances, since their development would have allowed greater buffering from environmental variability.
After the Early Triassic, various plants started to appear during the Middle-Late Triassic and spread later, probably further contributing to the radiation of holometabolous and aquatic insects.
Provided by: Chinese Academy of Sciences [Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.]
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