The first discovery of Eomeropidae (Insecta: Mecoptera) from the Lower Jurassic of northwestern China

ABSTRACTThe family Eomeropidae is extremely rare, and little is known about their early history of distribution. Herein, we describe and illustrate a new eomeropid species, Jurathauma xinjiangensis sp. nov. from the Lower Jurassic Badaowan Formation of the Junggar Basin, northwestern China, representing the first discovery of Eomeropidae in the Lower Jurassic from China. The synchronous appearance of the eomeropids in England and northwestern China indicates a basal divergence of the group in pre-Sinemurian times. Our new find adds new data about the entomological assemblage of the Tuziakeneigou section.KEYWORDS: Eomeropidaeearly JurassicBadaowan formationJunggar basinXinjiang AcknowledgmentsWe thank editor Gareth Dyke and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [41902109], Tianshan Youth Program [2020Q064].