Animals mimicking other organisms or using camouflage to deceive predators are vital survival strategies. Modern and fossil insects can simulate diverse objects. Lichens are an ancient symbiosis between a fungus and an alga or a cyanobacterium that sometimes have a plant-like appearance and occasionally are mimicked by modern animals. Nevertheless, lichen models are almost absent in fossil record of mimicry. Here, we provide the earliest fossil evidence of a mimetic relationship between the moth lacewing mimic Lichenipolystoechotes gen. nov. and its co-occurring fossil lichen model Daohugouthallus ciliiferus. We corroborate the lichen affinity of D. ciliiferus and document this mimetic relationship by providing structural similarities and detailed measurements of the mimic's wing and correspondingly the model's thallus. Our discovery of lichen mimesis predates modern lichen-insect associations by 165 million years, indicating that during the mid-Mesozoic, the lichen-insect mimesis system was well established and provided lacewings with highly honed survival strategies.
Keywords: ecology; evolutionary biology; fossil; insect; lichen; mimicry; neuroptera; survival strategy.
Many insects mimic other organisms or use camouflage to hide from predators. For example, some modern animals mimic the organism lichens, which are formed from algae and fungus, and grow almost everywhere on Earth, from the Arctic to the desert. The most iconic example of an insect mimicking a species of lichen is the peppered moth. During the industrial revolution, darker colored moths were better at surviving. But when the revolution ended and pollution levels declined, species of lichen began to re-emerge and increase the survival of paler moths. Yet, it is unclear how and when insects first evolved this ingenious survival strategy, as distinctive examples of insects mimicking lichens are missing from fossil records. To answer this question, Fang et al. set out to find fossils of lichen-mimicking insects that occurred at the same time as fossils of lichens. This approach led to the discovery of two new species of lacewing insects and their related species of foliose lichen. Previous work suggested that the foliose lichen, which has a lobe like shape, did not exist more than 65 million years ago. However, the findings of Fang et al. indicate that the foliose lichen existed 165 million years ago during the age of dinosaurs, and therefore arose much earlier than previously thought. The two new species found in north-eastern China, form a new subgroup within the moth lacewing family that Fang et al. have named ‘Lichenipolystoechotes’. Close examination of both species of lacewing and the lichen under the microscopy revealed a near perfect match in their appearance. The branching patterns of the insects’ wing markings fit the branching patterns of the lichen. Taken together, these findings suggest that, not only did lichen mimics exist in the age of the dinosaurs, but that this strategy of using lichen mimicry as a form of survival was already very effective during this time period. This discovery suggests that, 165 million years ago, a micro-ecosystem of lichens and insects existed in north-eastern China. It invites new questions about how that ecosystem worked. For example, how did the lichen benefit from its relationship with lacewing insects? Further investigations could reveal the answers and uncover more interesting insects hidden in the fossil record.