377
© The Author(s) 2021
K. De Baets, J. W. Huntley (eds.), The Evolution and Fossil Record of Parasitism,
Topics in Geobiology 49, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42484-8_11
Chapter 11
The History of Insect Parasitism
and the Mid-Mesozoic Parasitoid
Revolution
Conrad C. Labandeira and Longfeng Li
Abstract Insect parasites and parasitoids are a major component of terrestrial food
webs. For parasitoids, categorization is whether feeding activity is located inside or
outside its host, if the host is immobilized or allowed to grow, and if the feeding is
done by one or many conspecific or heterospecific individuals, and other features.
Fossil evidence for parasitism and parasitoidism consists of taxonomic affiliation,
morphology, gut contents, coprolites, tissue damage and trace fossils. Ten hemimetabolous and holometabolous orders of insects developed the parasite condition
whereas seven orders of holometabolous insects evolved the parasitoid life habit.
Modern terrestrial food webs are important for understanding the Mid Mesozoic
Parasitoid Revolution. The MMPR began in late Early Jurassic (Phase 1), in which
bottom-to-top regulation of terrestrial food webs dominated by inefficient clades of
predators were replaced by top-to-bottom control by trophically more efficient parasitoid clades. The MMPR became consolidated in Phase 2 by the end of the Early
Cretaceous. These clades later expanded (phases 3 and 4) as parasitoids became
significant ecological elements in terrestrial food webs. Bottom-to-top food webs
explained by the resource concentration hypothesis characterize pre-MMPR time.
During phases 1 and 2 of MMPR (Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous), a shift
This is a U.S. government work and its text is not subject to copyright protection in the United
States; however, it may be subject to foreign copyright protection.
C. C. Labandeira ()
Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, DC, USA
Department of Entomology and BEES Program, University of Maryland,
College Park, MD, USA
College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
e-mail: labandec@si.edu
L. Li
College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology, College of Life Science and Technology, Gansu
Agricultural University, Lanzhou City, People’s Republic of China
© The Author(s) 2021
K. De Baets, J. W. Huntley (eds.), The Evolution and Fossil Record of Parasitism,
Topics in Geobiology 49, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42484-8_11
Chapter 11
The History of Insect Parasitism
and the Mid-Mesozoic Parasitoid
Revolution
Conrad C. Labandeira and Longfeng Li
Abstract Insect parasites and parasitoids are a major component of terrestrial food
webs. For parasitoids, categorization is whether feeding activity is located inside or
outside its host, if the host is immobilized or allowed to grow, and if the feeding is
done by one or many conspecific or heterospecific individuals, and other features.
Fossil evidence for parasitism and parasitoidism consists of taxonomic affiliation,
morphology, gut contents, coprolites, tissue damage and trace fossils. Ten hemimetabolous and holometabolous orders of insects developed the parasite condition
whereas seven orders of holometabolous insects evolved the parasitoid life habit.
Modern terrestrial food webs are important for understanding the Mid Mesozoic
Parasitoid Revolution. The MMPR began in late Early Jurassic (Phase 1), in which
bottom-to-top regulation of terrestrial food webs dominated by inefficient clades of
predators were replaced by top-to-bottom control by trophically more efficient parasitoid clades. The MMPR became consolidated in Phase 2 by the end of the Early
Cretaceous. These clades later expanded (phases 3 and 4) as parasitoids became
significant ecological elements in terrestrial food webs. Bottom-to-top food webs
explained by the resource concentration hypothesis characterize pre-MMPR time.
During phases 1 and 2 of MMPR (Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous), a shift
This is a U.S. government work and its text is not subject to copyright protection in the United
States; however, it may be subject to foreign copyright protection.
C. C. Labandeira ()
Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, DC, USA
Department of Entomology and BEES Program, University of Maryland,
College Park, MD, USA
College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
e-mail: labandec@si.edu
L. Li
College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology, College of Life Science and Technology, Gansu
Agricultural University, Lanzhou City, People’s Republic of China