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Insects
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The Fossil Record of Immature Insects
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The Fossil Record of Immature Insects

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Insect Systematics, Phylogeny and Evolution".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 13940

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Carolin Haug

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Guest Editor
Department of Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Großhaderner Straße 2, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
Interests: evolution; paleontology; larvae; raptorial insects
Prof. Dr. Joachim T. Haug

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Großhaderner Straße 2, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
Interests: larvae; heterochrony
Dr. Viktor Baranov

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Großhaderner Straße 2, 82152 Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
Interests: evolution; amber; palaeontology; Diptera; larvae

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In modern ecosystems, insects play a crucial role, fulfilling various ecological functions. This is true for not only adults, but also for immature insects. As the adult is relatively short-lived in many ingroups of Insecta, with most of its life spent before reaching adulthood, immature insects have a huge impact on modern ecosystems.

The same was presumably the case in fossil ecosystems. Moreover, from the fossil record, a multitude of immature insects through all geological ages are known. Still, the fossil record of immature insects seems often underestimated. Research is mainly restricted to adult representatives, partly because immature insects can often not be determined to species level and hence are difficult to examine from a taxonomic point of view. However, different studies have demonstrated that fossils of immature insects can also provide important contributions to entomological research, for example, to developmental biology, ecology, biogeography, but also biodiversity.

This Special Issue will address studies on immature insects in the fossil record, including contributions from all relevant areas of research. We welcome submissions in the form of original basic or applied research as well as reviews.

Dr. Carolin Haug
Prof. Dr. Joachim T. Haug
Dr. Viktor Baranov
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • palaeoentomology
  • fossil immature insects
  • fossil insect larvae
  • developmental biology
  • life-history evolution

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

12 pages, 1912 KiB  
Article
Global Size Pattern in a Group of Important Ecological Indicators (Diptera, Chironomidae) Is Driven by Latitudinal Temperature Gradients
by Viktor Baranov, Jonas Jourdan, Blue Hunter-Moffatt, Sajad Noori, Simon Schölderle and Joachim T. Haug
Insects 2022, 13(1), 34; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13010034 - 28 Dec 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2920
Abstract
Size is one of the most outwardly obvious characteristics of animals, determined by multiple phylogenetic and environmental variables. Numerous hypotheses have been suggested to explain the relationship between the body size of animals and their geographic latitude. Bergmann’s Rule, describing a positive relationship [...] Read more.
Size is one of the most outwardly obvious characteristics of animals, determined by multiple phylogenetic and environmental variables. Numerous hypotheses have been suggested to explain the relationship between the body size of animals and their geographic latitude. Bergmann’s Rule, describing a positive relationship between the body size of endothermic animals and their geographic latitude, is especially well known. Whether or not insects exhibit a similar pattern has long been a subject for debate. We hypothesize that latitudinal size gradients are coupled to temperature variation affecting the metabolic rate of these merolimnic insects. We showcase a strong latitudinal size gradient in non-biting midges (Diptera: Chironomidae), based on the examination of 4309 specimens of these midges from around the world. Although phylogenetic position was a key predictor of wing length, we also found that wing length decreases by 32.4 µm per every 1 °C of mean annual temperature increase. This pattern was found across different taxa and could be detected in 20 of 24 genera studied. We discuss the reasons for this pattern origin and its palaeoecological implications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Fossil Record of Immature Insects)
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68 pages, 42996 KiB  
Article
Changes in the Morphological Diversity of Larvae of Lance Lacewings, Mantis Lacewings and Their Closer Relatives over 100 Million Years
by Joachim T. Haug, Gideon T. Haug, Ana Zippel, Serita van der Wal, Patrick Müller, Carsten Gröhn, Jörg Wunderlich, Christel Hoffeins, Hans-Werner Hoffeins and Carolin Haug
Insects 2021, 12(10), 860; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects12100860 - 23 Sep 2021
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 3794
Abstract
Neuroptera, the group of lacewings, comprises only about 6000 species in the modern fauna, but is generally assumed to have been more diverse and important in the past. A major factor of the modern-day ecological diversity of the group, and supposedly in the [...] Read more.
Neuroptera, the group of lacewings, comprises only about 6000 species in the modern fauna, but is generally assumed to have been more diverse and important in the past. A major factor of the modern-day ecological diversity of the group, and supposedly in the past as well, is represented by the highly specialised larval forms of lacewings. Quantitative analyses of the morphology of larvae revealed a loss of morphological diversity in several lineages. Here we explored the diversity of the larvae of mantis lacewings (Mantispidae), lance lacewings (Osmylidae), beaded lacewings (Berothidae and Rhachiberothidae, the latter potentially an ingroup of Berothidae), and pleasing lacewings (Dilaridae), as well as fossil larvae, preserved in amber, resembling these. We used shape analysis of the head capsule and stylets (pair of conjoined jaws) as a basis due to the high availability of this body region in extant and fossil specimens and the ecological importance of this region. The analysis revealed a rather constant morphological diversity in Berothidae. Mantispidae appears to have lost certain forms of larvae, but has seen a drastic increase of larval diversity after the Cretaceous; this is in contrast to a significant decrease in diversity in adult forms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Fossil Record of Immature Insects)
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10 pages, 2513 KiB  
Article
A Bizarre Planthopper Nymph (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) from Mid-Cretaceous Kachin Amber
by Cihang Luo, Bo Wang and Edmund A. Jarzembowski
Insects 2021, 12(4), 318; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects12040318 - 2 Apr 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2684
Abstract
The fossil record of adult planthoppers is comparatively rich, but nymphs are rare and not well studied. Here, we describe a bizarre armoured planthopper nymph, Spinonympha shcherbakovi gen. et sp. nov., in mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. The new genus is characterized by its large [...] Read more.
The fossil record of adult planthoppers is comparatively rich, but nymphs are rare and not well studied. Here, we describe a bizarre armoured planthopper nymph, Spinonympha shcherbakovi gen. et sp. nov., in mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber. The new genus is characterized by its large size, body armed with spines and tubercles, extremely long rostrum reaching well beyond the apex of the abdomen; profemur and mesofemur subcylindrical, covered with setae; protibia and mesotibia subquadrangular, densely covered with setae; protarsus and mesotarsus with two segments, tarsomere II longer and wider than I; metatrochanter swollen, metafemur subcylindrical, covered with short setae; metatibia subquadrangular, densely covered with short setae, without lateral spine and pectens without setae; metatarsus with three segments, and metatarsomere III extremely small. The fossil nymph cannot be attributed to any known planthopper family, but can be excluded from many families due to its large size and leg structure. The armoured body was probably developed for defence, and the extremely long rostrum indicates that, in the past, feeding on trees with thick and rough bark was more widespread than today. These features indicate that the new specimen represents a new armoured morphotype of planthopper nymph from the fossil record. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Fossil Record of Immature Insects)
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Review

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23 pages, 7232 KiB  
Review
Immature Insect Assemblages from the Early Cretaceous (Purbeck/Wealden) of Southern England
by Robert A. Coram and Edmund A. Jarzembowski
Insects 2021, 12(10), 942; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects12100942 - 17 Oct 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2840
Abstract
The record of immature insects from the non-marine Purbeck and Wealden groups (Lower Cretaceous) of southern England is reviewed and expanded. Fossils of adult terrestrial insects are locally common, but terrestrial immature remains are restricted to transported hemipterans, most of which are sessile [...] Read more.
The record of immature insects from the non-marine Purbeck and Wealden groups (Lower Cretaceous) of southern England is reviewed and expanded. Fossils of adult terrestrial insects are locally common, but terrestrial immature remains are restricted to transported hemipterans, most of which are sessile nymphs or puparia resembling those of extant whiteflies (Aleyrodidae). Remains of immature aquatic insects are more diverse and comprise the extant orders Plecoptera, Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Trichoptera, Hemiptera and Diptera. The Trichoptera are represented by larval cases constructed from a variety of materials corresponding to several ichnogenera. The Wealden immature insects were preserved in predominantly freshwater fluvial settings, whereas the Purbeck ones occur in lagoonal palaeoenvironments, ranging in salinity from brackish to hypersaline. The composition of aquatic immature insect faunas in the latter offers potential for palaeosalinity analysis, although there are complicating factors relating to habitat stability. Uncommon trace fossils such as beetle borings in wood provide evidence of immature insects not represented by body fossils. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Fossil Record of Immature Insects)
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