title: A diverse paleobiota in early eocene Fushun amber from China.
abstract: Paleogene arthropod biotas have proved important for tracing the faunal turnover and intercontinental faunal interchange driven by climatic warming and geodynamic events [1-5]. Despite the large number of Paleogene fossil arthropods in Europe and North America [5-8], little is known about the typical Asian (Laurasia-originated) arthropod biota. Here, we report a unique amber biota (50-53 million years ago) from the Lower Eocene of Fushun in northeastern China, which fills a large biogeographic gap in Eurasia. Fushun amber is derived from cupressaceous trees, as determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, and paleobotanical observations. Twenty-two orders and more than 80 families of arthropods have been reported so far, making it among the most diverse amber biotas. Our results reveal that an apparent radiation of ecological keystone insects, including eusocial, phytophagous, and parasitoid lineages, occurred at least during the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. Some insect taxa have close phylogenetic affinities to those from coeval European ambers, showing a biotic interchange between the eastern and western margins of the Eurasian landmass during the Early Paleogene.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: savantwang@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Jes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rust
authors.affiliation: Division of Entomology, Natural History Museum, and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA.
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology and Parasitology, University of Gdańsk, 59 Wita Stwosza Street, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Szwedo
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076, India.
authors.forename: Suryendu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.affiliation: CNRS UMR 7205, CP 50, Entomologie, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 75005 Paris, France.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nel
authors.affiliation: Fushun Amber Institute, Fushun 113005, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Fanwei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Gongle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK.
authors.forename: Edmund A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Jarzembowski
authors.affiliation: Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wappler
authors.affiliation: Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Frauke
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stebner
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Limi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
authors.forename: Daran
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China. Electronic address: hczhang@nigpas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Haichun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D018647:Amber; D000818:Animals; D001181:Arthropods / Q000145:classification*; D044822:Biodiversity; D058448:Biota; D002681:China; D005580:Fossils; D010802:Phylogeny
chemical_list: D018647:Amber