Foss. Rec., 24, 263–274, 2021 https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-24-263-2021 © Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. The first Fulgoridae (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha) from the Eocene of the central Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau Xiao-Ting Xu1,2, Wei-Yu-Dong Deng1,2, Zhe-Kun Zhou1,2, Torsten Wappler3, and Tao Su1,2 1CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China 2University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China 3Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, 64283 Darmstadt, Germany Correspondence: Torsten Wappler (
[email protected]) and Tao Su (
[email protected]) Received: 12 December 2020 – Revised: 5 July 2021 – Accepted: 6 July 2021 – Published: 17 August 2021 Abstract. The Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) played a cru- 1 Introduction cial role in shaping the biodiversity in Asia during the Ceno- zoic. However, fossil records attributed to insects are still scarce from the QTP, which limits our understanding on The Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is the highest and the evolution of biodiversity in this large region. Fulgori- one of the largest plateaus on Earth (Yao et al., 2017). dae (lanternfly) is a group of large planthopper in body size, With its unique and complex interactions of atmospheric, which is found primarily in tropical regions. The majority cryospheric, hydrological, geological, and environmental of the Fulgoridae bear brilliant colors and elongated heads. processes, the QTP has significantly influenced the Earth’s The fossil records of Fulgoridae span from the Eocene to biodiversity, monsoonal climate, and water cycles (Harris, Miocene in the Northern Hemisphere, and only a few fossil 2006; Yao et al., 2012; Spicer, 2017; Farnsworth et al., 2019).