The end-Permian mass extinction (EPME; ca. 252 Ma) led to profound changes in lacustrine ecosystems. However, whether or not post-extinction recovery of lacustrine ecosystems was delayed has remained uncertain, due to the apparent rarity of Early and Middle Triassic deep perennial lakes. Here we report on mid–Middle Triassic lacustrine organic-rich shales with abundant fossils and tuff interlayers in the Ordos Basin of China, dated to ca. 242 Ma (around the Anisian-Ladinian boundary of the Middle Triassic). The organic-rich sediments record the earliest known appearance, after the mass extinction, of a deep perennial lake that developed at least 5 m.y. earlier than the globally distributed lacustrine shales and mudstones dated as Late Triassic. The fossil assemblage in the organic-rich sediments is diverse and includes plants, notostracans, ostracods, insects, fishes, and fish coprolites, and thus documents a Mesozoic-type, trophically multileveled lacustrine ecosystem. The results reveal the earliest known complex lacustrine ecosystem after the EPME and suggest that Triassic lacustrine ecosystems took at most 10 m.y. to recover fully, which is consistent with the termination of the “coal gap” that signifies substantial restoration of peat-forming forests.

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Mesozoic long-proboscid scorpionflies (Mesopsychoidea) provide important clues to ancient plant-pollinator interactions. Among them, the family Aneuretopsychidae is especially important because its mouthparts are vital to deciphering the early evolution of Mesopsychoidea and putatively the origin of fleas (Siphonaptera). However, the identification of mouthpart homologs among Aneuretopsychidae remains controversial because of the lack of three-dimensional anatomical data. Here, we report the first Aneuretopsychidae from Late Cretaceous Burmese amber, which have short maxillary palpi and elongate mouthpart elements consisting of one pair of galeae and one hypopharynx. Their mouthparts are identical to those of Pseudopolycentropodidae (= Dualulidae, new synonym) but are not homologous to those of Siphonaptera. Our phylogenetic analysis provides robust evidence for the debated monophyly of Mesopsychoidea. Our results suggest that the long-proboscid condition has most likely evolved once in Mesopsychoidea, independently from fleas, and further reveal the variety and complexity of mid-Cretaceous pollinating insects.

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The end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) led to a severe terrestrial ecosystem collapse. However, the ecological response of insects—the most diverse group of organisms on Earth—to the EPME remains poorly understood. Here, we analyse beetle evolutionary history based on taxonomic diversity, morphological disparity, phylogeny, and ecological shifts from the Early Permian to Middle Triassic, using a comprehensive new dataset. Permian beetles were dominated by xylophagous stem groups with high diversity and disparity, which probably played an underappreciated role in the Permian carbon cycle. Our suite of analyses shows that Permian xylophagous beetles suffered a severe extinction during the EPME largely due to the collapse of forest ecosystems, resulting in an Early Triassic gap of xylophagous beetles. New xylophagous beetles appeared widely in the early Middle Triassic, which is consistent with the restoration of forest ecosystems. Our results highlight the ecological significance of insects in deep-time terrestrial ecosystems.