<p><strong>A new Early Jurassic insect outcrop in Xinjiang, northwestern China and its stratigraphic significance</strong></p>

Abstract

Mesozoic insect fossils are abundant in Xinjiang, northwestern China, mainly from the Triassic and Jurassic strata. The first Xinjiang insect fossils found were from the Meiyaogou section, north of Turpan City (Ping, 1935). Ping (1935) did not provide a detailed introduction to the specific stratum due to a limited stratigraphic survey of this area at that time, but it was considered to belong to the Upper Jurassic. The Upper Jurassic strata in the Meiyaogou section were represented mainly by the Sanjianfang Formation, which is characterized by gray-yellow-green sandstone-siltstones with purple-red sandstone strips. However, whether these fossils reported by Ping (1935) were from the Sanjianfang Formation is still uncertain. These insect fossils are known from just two orders: Dermaptera and Plecoptera. The mayfly species Ephemeropsis tingi (Demoulin, 1954; Edmunds, 1972; Kluge, 2004) was thought to be significantly different from Ephemeropsis trisetalis from the Jehol biota. Another species, Sinoephemera kingi, is more similar to a stonefly nymph. Mesonetopsis zeni, a taxon thought to be relate to the common component of the Late Jurassic in Central Asia (Mesoneta), is in fact an odonatan nymph (Demoulin, 1954).