Research

How did today's remarkable biodiversity of Coleoptera (beetles) arise? We are interested in applying new approaches in Mesozoic beetle studies to understand such evolutionary questions that have also intrigued Charles Darwin.

We are interested in unraveling the phylogenetic interrelationships of insects, and understanding how critical transitional fossils reshape the insect tree of life. These efforts by integrating fossils, morphology and molecules are key to numerous fundamental evolutionary questions related to how, when and why today's terrestrial ecosystem has formed.

Exceptionally preserved fossils are crucial for understanding key morphological innovations of extant organisms. We try to tackle evolutionary questions in light of the unique and strong collection of fossil arthropods at NIGPAS, including both compression fossils (Yanliao and Jehol biotas) and amber bioinclusions (Burmese amber).