Supplementary Tables S1 - S4 from Recalibration of the insect evolutionary time scale using Monte San Giorgio fossils suggests survival of key lineages through the End-Permian Extinction.

Insects are a highly diverse group of organisms and constitute more than half of all known animal species. They have evolved an extraordinary range of traits, from flight and complete metamorphosis to complex polyphenisms and advanced eusociality. Although the rich insect fossil record has helped to chart the appearance of many phenotypic innovations, data are scarce for a number of key periods. One such period is that following the End-Permian Extinction, recognized as the most catastrophic of all extinction events. We recently discovered several 240-million-year-old insect fossils in the Mount San Giorgio Lagerstätte (Switzerland–Italy) that are remarkable for their state of preservation (including internal organs and soft tissues), and because they extend the records of their respective taxa by up to 200 million years. By using these fossils as calibrations in a phylogenomic dating analysis, we present a revised timescale for insect evolution. Our date estimates for several major lineages, including the hyperdiverse crown groups of Lepidoptera, Hemiptera Heteroptera and Diptera, are substantially older than their currently accepted post-Permian origins. We found that major evolutionary innovations, including flight and metamorphosis, appeared considerably earlier than previously thought. These results have numerous implications for understanding the evolution of insects and their resilience in the face of extreme events such as the End-Permian Extinction.

昆虫是物种多样性极高的生物类群，其数量占所有已知动物物种的一半以上。它们演化出了极为丰富的性状谱系，从飞行能力、完全变态发育，到复杂的多型现象与高级真社会性结构。尽管丰富的昆虫化石记录已帮助学界厘清了诸多表型创新的出现脉络，但多个关键地质时期的相关数据仍较为匮乏。其中就包括二叠纪末大灭绝（End-Permian Extinction）之后的时段——该事件被公认为地球历史上最具毁灭性的灭绝事件。我们近期在瑞士-意大利边境的圣乔治山特异埋藏化石库（Mount San Giorgio Lagerstätte）中发现了多件距今2.4亿年的昆虫化石，这些化石不仅保存状态极佳（涵盖内部器官与软组织），还将对应类群的化石记录时限向前延伸了至多2亿年。我们将这些化石作为校准点用于系统基因组定年分析，由此提出了修订后的昆虫演化时间线。我们对多个主要演化支的定年结果显示，包括物种多样性极高的鳞翅目（Lepidoptera）冠群、半翅目异翅亚目（Hemiptera Heteroptera）冠群以及双翅目（Diptera）冠群在内的类群，其起源时间均远早于当前学界公认的二叠纪后起源时间。研究还发现，包括飞行能力与变态发育在内的重要演化创新，其出现时间均远早于此前的认知。本研究结果对于理解昆虫的演化历程，以及它们在二叠纪末大灭绝等极端事件中的存续能力，具有多维度的启示意义。