Last interglacial environment of the Baikal Region (Southern Siberia, Russia) based on analysis of fossil invertebrates and plants

New data on fossil insects, soil and freshwater invertebrates, plant macrofossils, pollen and spores were obtained from a problematic lower unit of the reference section Bely Yar-II (Tunka Rift, Baikal Region, Russia). The invertebrates show a natural succession from a small lake to a wetland; plant macrofossils confirm the early stages of succession. Pollen and spore data reflect a wide range of environments and vegetation from moderate climate supporting regional forests to relatively cold, dry parkland. New Uranium-Thorium data (99 ± 20 ka and 101 ± 13 ka), along with environmental reconstructions, indicate that the lower unit was probably formed during one of the cold sub-stages towards the end the last inter-glaciation (MIS5).

International Palaeoentomological Society—20 years after

Fossilised insects probably brought man’s attention since the prehistory, since first amber with an insect entombed in resin was found. Amber was collected and used by humans first in the Upper Paleolithic period, perhaps as long ago as 20,000 years (Beck et al., 2009; Burdukiewicz, 2009; Płonka & Kowalski, 2017). The written testimonies on amber inclusions goes back to Ancient Rome (Plinius Secundus, 77). During 17th and 18th centuries the inclusions in amber were noted by philosophers (Bacon, 1638), their values discussed and illustrated (e.g., Sendel, 1742) and their importance to understanding the history of life pointed (Kant in Hagen, 1821). Shortly after Linnaeus “Systema Naturae” editions, the first research using binomial names for insect included in the copal was published (Bloch, 1776) and Pleistocene record of Recent beetle was noted by Fabricius (1775). Notes and information on fossil insects from imprints and amber were presented by Lang (1708), Bertrand (1763), Linnaeus (1778) and Volta (1796). The first regular description of beetle inclusion in Baltic amber came from Gravenhorst (1806) and works of de Serres (1828, 1829) seems to be the first with more detailed overview and description of insects as adpression fossils. Therefore, human’s palaeoentomological interests predates official beginning of modern taxonomy and palaeoentomology as science is as old as modern entomology (Azar et al., 2018).

Fossil insects 10 years after the Geological Conservation Review (Great Britain)

At the third congress of the I.P.S. (International Palaeoentomological Society) in Beijing (2010), Professor Dong Ren, conference organiser, was presented with an author’s copy of the arthropod volume of the Geological Conservation Review of Great Britain, which included fossil insects, and had just been published (Jarzembowski et al., 2010). The purpose of the review, which commenced in the last century before the founding of I.P.S., was essentially to select and document the key sites of British geology, geomorphology and palaeontology with view to geoheritage conservation—including palaeoentomology. The results were collated and published in a series of volumes and, as it subsequently transpired, the arthropod volume was the last one (number 35). The insect part (written by the current author) and other arthropods (by Derek Siveter and Paul Selden) were augmented by general geology and palaeontology contributed by Douglas Palmer. A planned volume with relevant Lower Cretaceous (Wealden) geology was eventually produced instead as a short series of papers by the Geologists’ Association of London (Radley & Allen, 2012b). Geoconservation has featured periodically on the I.P.S. agenda and this paper reflects on the legacy of the GCR study, a decade later, and over a generation after its initiation.

Hjoula: A remarkable mid-Cenomanian Lebanese fossil fish Lagerstätte now promising also for fossil insects

Lebanon is worldwide famous in Palaeontology for its rich Late Cretaceous marine fish deposits in Haqel, Nammoura and Hjoula. Recently, the two latter outcrops yielded surprisingly some complete and none-dislocated fossil insects (Azar et al., 2019; Vršanský & Makhoul, 2013; Nel et al., 2004), indicating a particular depositional marine palaeoenvironment, close to a palaeoshoreline during the mid-Cenomanian.

The early assemblage of Middle–Late Jurassic Yanliao biota: checklist, bibliography and statistical analysis of described taxa from the Daohugou beds and coeval deposits

Checklists of all described organisms from the Daohugou biota, and insects from the Haifanggou Formation at Haifeng Village (Beipiao City, Liaoning Province) and the ‘Jiulongshan Formation’ at Zhouyingzi Village (Luanping County, Chengde City, Hebei Province), are provided. Fossil insects from the Daohugou biota are summarized, including a total of 760 valid species reported in 396 research papers from 2001 to April, 2021. The heyday of exploration of Daohugou insects has been lasted for a decade from 2006 to 2016 according to the number of published papers.

The Triassic insects of Denmark Hill, Ipswich, Southeast Queensland: the creation, use and dispersal of a collection

Type and additional fossil insects from the Late Triassic Denmark Hill locality in Southeast Queensland, Australia, are held in the collections of the Queensland Museum (Brisbane), the Australian Museum (Sydney) and the Natural History Museum of the United Kingdom (London). The history of these collections shows that they were the product of a concerted effort in the first two decades of the twentieth century to extract the fossils by Benjamin Dunstan, Queensland’s Chief Government Geologist, and to describe the fossils by Dunstan and Robin Tillyard, the foremost Australian entomologist of the time. They collaborated closely to document the late Triassic insects of Australia, at the same time as Dunstan carefully curated and organised both the official government collection of these insects for the Geological Survey of Queensland, and his own private collection. The death of the two men in the 1930s led to the sale by his widow of Dunstan’s private fossil collection (including type and type counterpart specimens) to the British Museum, and the donation of Tillyard’s by his widow to the same institution, in addition to some material that went to the Australian Museum. This paper documents the locations of all of the published specimens. The history of the Denmark Hill fossils (a site no longer accessible for collection) highlights the problems for researchers of the dispersal of holdings such as these, and in particular the separation of the part and counterpart of the same insect fossils. It also raises ethical questions arising from the ownership and disposal of private holdings of important fossil material collected in an official capacity.

Modern and fossil insects body size as a possible proxy to understand environments of the past

<p>The fossil records of Insects is quite rich and abundant, telling a story of the group’s rise through the Paleozoic, with the subsequent conquest of sea, land, freshwater and finally, for the first time in history of animals – air. Fossil insects also can tell us about the environment they lived in. It is relatively common to use insect remnants, especially head capsules of  non-biting midges (Diptera, Chironomidae) preserved in the sediments from the period including several last Ice ages the Holocene (11650 Years BC – Present) to reconstruct temperatures and the climate patterns of the past. Most of the midges in the Holocene are representatives of modern species, which allows us to extrapolate their ecology from the modern representatives of the same species. Based on our knowledge of the temperature preference of this modern species we can quite easily reconstruct and model their temperature preferences in the past.</p><p>Reconstruction of the temperature optimums of all the taxa in the community, together with analyses of the other paleoecological proxies (i.e. plant pollen profiles) enables us to assess the range of the temperatures experienced by the area in which midge samples of Chironomidae was obtained in the Holocene and latest Pleistocene. We cannot rely on such ecological extrapolation from the modern animals' ecology for the animal’s fossil records from the deep past, for example from Cretaceous or Triassic periods.</p><p>Therefore, we are proposing a more universally applicable climate proxy, independent of our knowledge of the fossil organism’s ecology. Animal size is one of the best candidates for such proxy. It is well known that the body size of the homoeothermic (“warm-blooded”) animals follows (roughly) so-called Bergman rule when size within the group of organisms is increasing from South to North ( i.e. polar bear and Amur tiger are both the northernmost and the largest representatives of their respective groups). We hypothesized that flies (Diptera) are suitable candidates for a quantitative paleoclimate proxy. Flies are very abundant in the fossil records from the mid Triassic (245 Mya) up until modern time. Their size is appears directly negatively correlated with temperature, i.e. representatives occurring further North are larger than the ones from the equatorial regions. This relationship allows us to use the relationships between the insect size and the geographic latitude at which they occur and the temperature at which these insects occur. Here we present a first results from analysis of > 2000 species of Chironomidae from around the globe, in a phylogenetic-constrained framework. First results are showing that non-biting midge’s wing and body size is growing by about 0.02 mm per one degree of geographical latitude, as one moves from the equator, mostly regardless of the phylogenetic position of the species analysed. This first results are showing that Insect size might be a promising proxy for reconstructing the palaeotemperature.</p><p> </p><div> <div> </div> </div>

Behaviors and Interactions of Insects in Mid-Mesozoic Ecosystems of Northeastern China

During the past 20 years, more than 1,600 species of well-preserved fossil insects, including members of over 270 families within 24 orders, have been described from the Middle Jurassic Yanliao Entomofauna and Early Cretaceous Jehol Entomofauna in Northeastern China. Diversified fossil insects not only document the origin, systematics, and early evolution of many lineages, but also reveal these lineages’ behaviors and interactions with coexisting plants, vertebrates, and other insects in their ecosystems. Fossil evidence has been documented, for example, regarding insects’ feeding and pollination mutualism with gymnosperms; ectoparasitic feeding on blood of vertebrates; camouflage, mimicry of gymnosperm plants, and eyespot warning; sound stridulation for attracting potential mates; and sexual display, mating, egg-laying, and parental care. In this article, we review the diverse taxonomy of mid-Mesozoic insects of Northeastern China and elucidate their behaviors and interactions within their ecosystems, which have impacted their early evolution and development into extant insects.