Dear Colleagues,

Insects are the most diverse group of organisms to appear in the 3.5-billion-year history of life on Earth. Over one million species of insects have been described, but it is estimated that there may be as many as 10 million species on Earth. They are a dominant component of biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems. Our understanding of their modern biodiversity is based on the knowledge of their fossil record. Two major turning points in insect evolution were the development of wings around 410 million years ago and the Triassic radiation of the Holometabola, which is the most diverse extant insect clade, comprising more than 95% of the total species diversity of the entirety of Insecta. Further milestones were the “invention” of eusociality during the Cretaceous, as the most striking and sophisticated innovation by insects, and the Mid-Mesozoic Parasitoid Revolution. Insect pollination was a driver of the Early Cretaceous radiation of angiosperms.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide an up-to-date survey of the past diversity of insects and to invite manuscripts describing new taxa of significance for advancing our understanding of insect evolution.

Prof. Dr. Mathias Harzhauser
Prof. Dr. Haichun Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Taxonomy is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• fossil record
• insecta
• evolution
• eusociality
• pollination
• biodiversity
• extinction