A new giant Jurassic lacewing larva reveals a particular aquatic habit and its significance to the palaeoecology  

作　　者：Bowen Kong Chungkun Shih Dong Ren Yongjie Wang 

机构地区：[1]College of Life Sciences,Capital Normal University,105 Xisanhuanbeilu,Haidian District,Beijing 100048,China [2]Guangdong Key Laboratory of Animal Conservation and Resource Utilization,Guangdong Public Laboratory of Wild Animal Conservation and Utilization,Institute of Zoology,Guangdong Academy of Sciences,Guangzhou 510260,China [3]Department of Paleobiology,National Museum of Natural History,Smithsonian Institution,Washington 20013-7012,DC,USA

出　　处：《Journal of Systematics and Evolution》2024年第6期1193-1200,共8页植物分类学报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(31970383,32370481,2020103006);GDAS Special Project of Science and Technology Development(2022GDASZH-2022010106);Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province(2023A1515010962);Pearl River Talent Plan of Guangdong Province(2021QN02N101).

摘　　要：Neuroptera, as a small relic group of Insecta undergoing a rapid species diversification during the Mesozoic Era, is known by diverse extinct endemic lineages preserved as impression fossils and in amber. The current understanding of Mesozoic neuropterans' diversity has mainly focused on the adults, because the contemporaneous larvae have been fairly rare especially for the Jurassic lacewings. Herein, a new giant lacewing larva, Natator giganteus gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou Beds of China. The remarkable larva is characterized by its impressively large body size, distinctively elongated cervix, and presence of swimming hairs on legs, which provide direct evidence to reveal an aquatic habit for the Jurassic lacewing larva. The morphological analysis indicates this giant larva would have probably inhabited the benthic environments of Jurassic montane rivers and streams. In addition, its morphological specialization suggests that it might have adopted an ambush predation strategy to catch its prey. The finding enhances our knowledge of the species diversity and morphological plasticity for the Jurassic lacewing larvae, and reveals that the aquatic lineages of Neuroptera exhibited dramatically structural and ecological convergence across the evolutionary process.

关 键 词：Daohugou bed fossil larvae Middle Jurassic NEUROPTERA swimming hairs 

分 类 号：Q94[生物学—植物学]