Early evolution of beetles regulated by the end-Permian deforestation
Xianye Zhao,
Yilun Yu,
Matthew E Clapham,
Evgeny Yan,
Jun Chen,
Edmund A Jarzembowski,
Xiangdong Zhao,
Bo Wang
Affiliations
Xianye Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Yilun Yu
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Matthew E Clapham
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, United States
Evgeny Yan
Palaeontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation
Jun Chen
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China; Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Linyi University, Linyi, China
Edmund A Jarzembowski
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China; Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom
Xiangdong Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
The end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) led to a severe terrestrial ecosystem collapse. However, the ecological response of insects—the most diverse group of organisms on Earth—to the EPME remains poorly understood. Here, we analyse beetle evolutionary history based on taxonomic diversity, morphological disparity, phylogeny, and ecological shifts from the Early Permian to Middle Triassic, using a comprehensive new dataset. Permian beetles were dominated by xylophagous stem groups with high diversity and disparity, which probably played an underappreciated role in the Permian carbon cycle. Our suite of analyses shows that Permian xylophagous beetles suffered a severe extinction during the EPME largely due to the collapse of forest ecosystems, resulting in an Early Triassic gap of xylophagous beetles. New xylophagous beetles appeared widely in the early Middle Triassic, which is consistent with the restoration of forest ecosystems. Our results highlight the ecological significance of insects in deep-time terrestrial ecosystems.
