Palaeontology, biogeography and evolution of New Zealand insects

新西兰长期与世隔绝的陆地生态系统是现代生物多样性的热点。自新西兰从冈瓦那分离以来，剧烈的构造和气候事件导致了一种独特的昆虫动物群的演变，该动物群与其他地方的动物群不同，具有高度的地方性、巨型和特殊的生态相互作用。由于化石记录极差，环境变化在地质时间尺度上的生物后果以及灭绝和跨洋扩散在塑造最近昆虫动物群方面的作用在很大程度上是未知的。从湖泊沉积物和琥珀中新发现并保存完好的昆虫动物群，首次提供了根据化石证据重建新西兰昆虫的古多样性和进化史的机会。这些动物群的古生态系统是从以前的研究中众所周知的，这使得能够比较化石动物群之间以及与现代新西兰生态系统的昆虫之间的多样性(在目/科一级)。该项目将调查来自四个不同古生态系统的昆虫化石的分类、分类和多样性：植被稀少的泛滥平原(Manuherikia Group)、被Nothofagus/podocarp森林环绕的小型火山湖(Hindon Maar Fossil Lagerstätte)或以樟科为主的藤本植物森林(Foulden Maar Fossil Lagerstätte)和有古树植物的“琥珀森林”(新西兰琥珀)。这些新记录的昆虫动物群可靠地确定为晚渐新世至中中新世，具有特殊的古生物学意义，因为它们发生在渐新世几乎完全的海洋洪水和陆地多样性减少之后不久，以及在造山过程(南阿尔卑斯山)和后中新世气候降温过程中的栖息地修改之前。将所研究的昆虫动物群的选定分类群作为系统发育年表中的化石校准点，将完善相关类群多样化的时间安排，并能够检验当前的生物地理假说。

Terrestrial ecosystems of the long-isolated landmass of New Zealand are modern biodiversity hotspots. Drastic tectonic and climatic events since the separation of New Zealand from Gondwana have resulted in the evolution of a unique insect fauna, which is distinguished from faunas elsewhere by high levels of endemism, gigantism and exceptional ecological interactions. Due to an extremely poor fossil record, the biotic consequences of environmental change over geological time-scales and the role of extinction and transoceanic dispersal in shaping the recent insect fauna are largely unknown. Newly discovered and exquisitely preserved insect faunas from lake sediments and amber offer for the first time the opportunity to reconstruct the palaeo-diversity and evolutionary history of New Zealand insects based on fossil evidence. The palaeo-ecosystems of these faunas are well known from previous studies, enabling the comparison of the diversity (on the order/family level) between the fossil faunas as well as with insects of modern New Zealand ecosystems. This project will investigate the systematics, taphonomy and diversity of fossil insects from four different palaeo-ecosystems: sparsely vegetated floodplains (Manuherikia Group), small volcanic lakes surrounded by Nothofagus/podocarp forest (Hindon Maar fossil Lagerstätte) or Lauraceae-dominated vine forest (Foulden Maar fossil Lagerstätte) and "amber forests" with araucarians (New Zealand amber). Reliably dated as Late-Oligocene to mid-Miocene, these newly recorded insect faunas are of special palaeontological importance as they occur shortly after near-complete marine inundation and reduction of terrestrial diversity in the Oligocene and prior to habitat modifications in the course of mountain building (Southern Alps) and post-Miocene climate cooling. Including selected taxa of the studied insect faunas as fossil calibration points in phylogenetic chronograms will refine the timing of diversification of relevant groups and enable testing of current biogeographical hypotheses.