Palaeoentomology in Russia

This is the web-site of the Laboratory of Arthropods, Palaeontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

Fossil insect studies in Russia started just before the establishment of the Palaeontological Institute. They were initiated by a renowned entomologist A.V. Martynov, who became a founder of the Laboratory of Entomology in this Institute. During the years of its existence, the Laboratory of Arthropods accumulated the most extensive collection of fossil insects and arachnids comprising approximately 200 000 specimens and being one of the best collections in the World. Hundreds of fossil-bearing sites have been discovered and studied in detail for the first time; they include such unique faunistic and preservational Lagerstaetten as Permian Tshekarda and Soyana, Triassic Madygen and Dzhailaucho, Jurassic Karatau, Cretaceous Baissa and Bon-Tsagaan, and Late Cretaceous amber-like resins of Taimyr. From the origin of the Laboratory until the present day, research is mainly focused on phylogeny. For the first time in palaeoentomology, the Laboratory staff turned towards a deep investigation of the history of larger taxa, mainly those of the order rank, from the point of their appearance in the palaeontological record instead of investigaton of local faunas. The geological history of some orders (dragonflies and damselflies, mayflies, bugs, beetles, true flies, caddisflies, wasps, orthopterans, grylloblattids, stoneflies) has been traced comprehensively, and new phylogenetic schemes put major changes in previous opinions...   >>>

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