The recently discovered definite giant fleas from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou fauna and the Early Cretaceous Jehol fauna of northeastern China represent significant evidence for understanding ectoparasitism in the Mesozoic as well as the evolution of these giant blood feeders with their putative hosts (i.e. hairy or feathered vertebrates). On the basis of seven well-preserved specimens from Daohugou and Huangbanjigou we analyse the systematic classification of these primitive fleas, establishing two new genera and three new species as Pseudopulex wangi sp. nov., Hadropsylla sinica gen. et sp. nov., and Tyrannopsylla beipiaoensis gen. et sp. nov. All of them are assigned to the extinct siphonapteran family Pseudopulicidae, while the Early Cretaceous genus Tarwinia is transferred to Tarwiniidae fam. nov. The basal morphological disparities of Siphonaptera in the Mesozoic are evidenced by the occurrence of at least three distinct groups (pseudopulicids, tarwiniids, and saurophthirids). These disparate morphologies likely indicate adaptations to different hosts.
Diverse caddis flies are recently collected from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou fauna in Ningcheng County,Inner Mongolia,northern China,and different types of caddis cases have been reported in the same locality.A new species of caddisfly,Liadotaulius daohugouensis sp.nov.is described and illustrated;the establishment is based on a well-preserved isolated forewing collected from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou.The family status of Liadotaulius is discussed on the basis of new material and is referred to the family Philopotamidae.The Daohugou fauna continues to provide new data for studying the early evolution of Trichoptera.
The Middle Jurassic Daohugou Biota has yielded very rich fossil plants,vertebrates,and invertebrates.The particularly famous fossil insects are represented by at least 24 orders,revealing one of the most diverse Mesozoic insect communities.Among them,the occurrence of Embioptera,Mantophasmatodea,and Siphonaptera increased respectively as supported by fossil evidence from Daohugou.Moreover,the early co-evolution of ectoparasites and their hosts may be analyzed by the presence of various giant fleas and the co-occurred potential hosts such as mammals,feather dinosaurs,and pterosaurs from Daohugou.
