Abstract
AbstractFossil insects from the Triassic-Jurassic boundary of England could provide an important resource for investigating the severity of extinction events in the terrestrial realm of the uppermost Triassic. However, the fossil record is poorly understood for this period even though there are abundant historical collections. Many of these collections are still in need of taxonomic revision before they can be used to reconstruct past entomofaunas and make inferences about diversity change through time. This paper is part of a larger project to revise the taxonomy of insects across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary of England to better understand changes in insect diversity through the Triassic-Jurassic boundary and associated extinction period. Herein, the damsel-dragonfly family Liassophlebiidae Tillyard, 1925 is revised and an additional specimen from the Early Jurassic of Antarctica is included.Rossiphlebianew genus is erected forLiassophlebia jacksoniZeuner, 1962;L. batheriTillyard, 1925 is considered nomen dubium and another specimen originally attributed toL. batheriis identified asL. withersiTillyard, 1925.Liassophlebia(?)clavigasterTillyard, 1925 andL.(?)hopei(Brodie, 1845) are considered incertae sedis at the generic level.Liassophlebia giganteaZeuner, 1962 is based on a fragmentary specimen but has several unique key characteristics. We redescribe it inAnglophlebianew genus and tentatively in Anglophlebiidae new family in Heterophlebioptera. Also discussed areL. magnificaTillyard, 1925,L. withersi, andL. pseudomagnificaWhalley, 1985, which are redescribed with updated figures.Caraphlebia antarcticaCarpenter, 1969 was originally described from the Early Jurassic of Antarctica as being closely related toLiassophlebia; it is herein confirmed in Selenothemistidae Handlirsch, 1939.UUID:http://zoobank.org/8fe9a39c-1c3b-4bda-92a6-92c1a0fc95b8
Highlights
The Late Triassic saw several periods of major biodiversity turnover, culminating in the End Triassic Extinction (ETE), described as one of the five largest mass extinction events in Earth history
Because there are few currently available rich insect outcrops, a large part of this project is the taxonomic revision of historical fossil insect collections from the Late Triassic to Early Jurassic at the species level to bring the taxonomy to current understanding
Examination of the fossil material from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic of England has led to several major changes to the taxonomy of Liassophlebiidae and changes to the diversity estimates of insects across the Triassic-Jurassic Boundary (TJB)
Summary
The Late Triassic saw several periods of major biodiversity turnover, culminating in the End Triassic Extinction (ETE), described as one of the five largest mass extinction events in Earth history. Liassophlebiidae was reported to be known from the Early Jurassic, Hettangian-Toarcian, by Nicholson et al (2015, supplementary data) but this disregards the four species described by Tillyard (1925) from the Penarth Group of Strensham, England, which is Late Triassic: Rhaetian. The insect was collected on Carapace Nunatak where the formation is present and has been estimated to have been deposited during the upper Sinemurian to lower Pliensbachian (Ribecai, 2007) This means that the age estimation for the Mawson Formation in this area could lie within the later Hettangian to early late Sinemurian, making them of similar age to the English specimens
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