中生代时期脉翅目昆虫出现了典型的多样性辐射，形成了大量特有类群，较现代种群表现出显著的形态、结构以及功能差异，但是脉翅目昆虫在中生代时期的形成分化机制以及演化历史尚不明确。 本项目利用我国丰富的中生代昆虫化石资源，对脉翅目昆虫进行全面系统研究：1）查明我国中生代脉翅目类群的组成、时空分布规律；2）对脉翅目昆虫的重要形态特征（如口器、翅斑、翅脉、足等）进行功能形态研究，充分挖掘化石保留的生物学信息，结合现生类群以及伴生古植物、古环境特点对其生物学、行为学等进行推断，揭示脉翅目昆虫与植物间的相互作用关系，重现脉翅目昆虫在中生代生态系统中的作用；3）结合现生类群进行系统发育以及生物地理学研究，探讨脉翅目昆虫起源、演化以及历史扩散等问题，推断其多样性分化机制，为研究地质历史时期上生态环境变迁与生物的响应提供重要的参考证据。

In the Mesozoic Era, neuropterans exhibited the distinctive species richness and morphological diversity, and evolved into numerous specialized lineages of this epoch which showed conspicuous discrepancies on morphology, structure and function with the extant groups. However, the diversification mechanism and evolutionary history of Neuroptera in the Mesozoic are still not clear. In this research project, we will conduct the comprehensive study of the Mesozoic Neuroptera, based on the abundant fossil resource from China in the Mesozoic Era. It would be focused on the following scopes: 1) Investigate the species diversity and distributed pattern of the Mesozoic Neuroptera from China; 2) Study the function of the important morphological attributes (e.g. mouthparts, wing spot, venation and leg…) fully based on the preserved biological information on the fossil, explore the biological and behavioral features of the Mesozoic neuropterans incorporating the data of the assoicating plants and environments, expose the potential interrelationships between neuropterans and plants, and reconstruct the roles of Neuroptera in the Mesozoic ecosystems; 3) Infer the origin, historical evolution, and dispersal of the neuropterans to explore the diversification mechanism according to the results of the phylogenetic and biogeographical studies. It is hoped that this research would provide the significant insights on studying the responses of organisms to the key ecological transition in the geologic times.