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热点。自新西兰从冈瓦纳大陆分离以来，剧烈的构造和气候事件导致了独特昆虫动物群的进化，该动物群与其他地方的动物群的区别在于高度的特有性、巨大性和特殊的生态相互作用。由于化石记录极其贫乏，在地质时间尺度上环境变化的生物后果以及灭绝和跨洋传播在塑造近代昆虫动物群中的作用在很大程度上是未知的。新发现和保存完好的湖泊沉积物和琥珀中的昆虫动物群首次提供了根据化石证据重建新西兰昆虫古多样性和进化历史的机会。这些动物群的古生态系统是众所周知的，从以前的研究，使化石动物群之间的多样性（在命令/科的水平），以及与现代新西兰生态系统的昆虫进行比较。该项目将调查四种不同古生态系统中昆虫化石的系统学、埋藏学和多样性：植被稀疏的洪泛平原（Manuherikia群）、被假法格/豆荚树森林（欣东马尔化石Lagerstätte）或以樟科植物为主的藤本森林（福登马尔化石Lagerstätte）包围的小火山湖和有南洋杉的“琥珀森林”（新西兰琥珀）。这些新记录的昆虫动物群具有特殊的古生物学重要性，因为它们发生在渐新世几乎完全的海洋淹没和陆地多样性减少之后不久，并且在造山运动（南阿尔卑斯山）和后中新世气候冷却过程中的栖息地改变之前。包括选定的分类群的研究昆虫动物群作为化石校准点在系统发育年表将完善的时间多样化的相关群体，使目前的地理学假说的测试。

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.