Fossil Mecoptera of China: A review and taxonomic checklist

The study of fossil Mecoptera in China started relatively late, with the first mecopteran fossil species not reported until 1980. With the increasing number of palaeoentomological researchers in China and the discovery of several important fossil localities, studies on fossil Mecoptera have made considerable progress. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the research history on fossil Mecoptera in China and presents a taxonomic checklist of all known Chinese species. It also provides a taxonomic checklist of Chinese fossil Mecoptera, including 170 species belonging to 65 genera and 17 families from the Permian to the Cretaceous. Overall, although considerable progress has been achieved in the study of fossil Mecoptera in China over the past half century, further fossil discoveries and studies are still required to clarify their diversity, stratigraphic distribution, and evolutionary history.