A review of Triassic insects in China

Abstract

Studies of Triassic insects in China began in 1956, and so far, a total of 89 genera and 109 species have been found from the Triassic of China. The fossil records are from 17 provinces (or regions) in China are assigned to 11 orders except for two genera and species considered incertae sedis in Insecta. These Chinese Triassic insects including one Early Triassic, 53 Middle Triassic and 55 Late Triassic species are briefly reviewed in taxonomy and distribution, and listed here with detailed taxonomic and stratigraphic information. The Middle Triassic Tongchuan Entomofauna and Late Triassic Toksun Entomofauna are introduced much detailed from the perspectives of composition and taxonomy. Existing data indicate that the Chinese Triassic entomofauna is dominated by Hemiptera, Mecoptera and Coleoptera; the Chinese Early Triassic insects are only known from Fuyuan in Yunnan Province, Middle Triassic ones mainly known from northern China and sporadically from Guizhou Province, southern China, and Late Triassic ones widely seen in both northern and southern China; and the Middle and Late Triassic entomofaunas are similar in abundance but show a pattern of “more in northern China than in southern China”.

Late Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic Insects: State of the Art on Paleoentomological Studies in Southern South America

“…The most representative insect faunas come from Vosges-France (Middle Triassic), Madygen Formation-Kyrgyzstan (Middle-Upper Triassic), and Cow Branch Formation-USA (Upper Triassic) (e.g., Fraser et al, 1996;Marchal-Papier, 1998;Grimaldi & Engel, 2005;Blagoderov et al, 2007;Shcherbakov, 2008a;Voigt et al, 2020). However, there are as well other important localities in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, China, and Japan (e.g., Fujiyama, 1991;Ueda, 1991;Zherikhin, 2002;Zheng et al, 2018;Huang et al, 2019;Zhang et al, 2021). For Gondwana, the picture of Triassic insects is patchier and more incomplete, represented mainly in Upper Triassic outcrops.…”

“…However, there are as well other important localities in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, China, and Japan ( e.g. , Fujiyama, 1991; Ueda, 1991; Zherikhin, 2002; Zheng et al , 2018; Huang et al , 2019; Oyama & Maeda, 2020; Oyama et al , 2020; Zhang et al , 2021). For Gondwana, the picture of Triassic insects is patchier and more incomplete, represented mainly in Upper Triassic outcrops.…”