2024 in paleoentomology

This list of 2024 in paleoentomology records new fossil insect taxa that are to be described during the year, as well as documents significant paleoentomology discoveries and events which occurred during that year.

Trichopteran research

 * Frese, McCurry & Wells (2024) describe pupae and uncased larvae of caddisflies from the Miocene McGraths Flat Lagerstätte (Australia), including specimens with large compound eyes preserving details of the rhabdoms and corneal nanocoating and with other external and internal structures, and interpret the environment of the studied caddisflies as affected by cyclic catastrophic events.

Dipteran research

 * Putative Cretaceous mosquito Libanoculex intermedius is argued to be a member of the family Chaoboridae by Harbach (2024).
 * The first fossil representative of the subgenus Ristocordyla within the genus Brachypeza reported to date is described from the Eocene Baltic amber by Boudet et al. (2024).
 * Amaral et al. (2024) describe new larval specimens of Qiyia jurassica from the Jurassic Daohugou Beds (China) and new fossil material of brachyceran larvae the Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, including larvae with morphology combining characters seen in members of the families Xylophagidae and Athericidae, and interpret the studied fossils as indicating that members of the group Stratiomyomorpha were abundant in the Cretaceous fauna and likely occupied the ecological functions which are occupied by extant members of more derived brachyceran groups.
 * Fossil material of aquatic dipterans, including representatives of the family Chaoboridae which are absent from extant fauna of New Zealand, is described from the Miocene Foulden Maar Lagerstätte by Baranov, Haug & Kaulfuss (2024).

Orthopteran research

 * Ferreira et al. (2024) reconstruct the left forewing venation of Picogryllus carentonensis, reporting the presence of the venation pattern compatible with the pattern proposed by Josse et al. (2023) for crickets.
 * Ferreira et al. (2024) reconstruct the anatomy of the internal parts of the genitalia of a male specimen of Picogryllus carentonensis, and evaluate the tempo and mode of evolution of the family Oecanthidae, arguing that the family dates back to the Upper Jurassic.
 * While describing structures interpreted as a grasshopper ootheca (egg pod) and eggs from the John Day Formation, Oregon, United States, Lee et al. advocate the use of the ootaxonomic nomenclatural system for description of insect egg fossils. They erect the new ichnofamily Entomoothecichnidae to accommodate the described oothecae fossils, and the new oofamily Entomoolithidae for "fossil eggs of entomological affinities".

Coleopteran research

 * A review of the evolutionary history of beetles during the late Paleozoic and Mesozoic is published by Beutel et al. (2024).
 * A study on the diversity of Late Triassic (Norian) beetles from the Cow Branch and Walnut Cove formations (Virginia and North Carolina, United States) is published by Criscione-Vastano & Grimaldi (2024), who identify the presence of 100 distinct beetle morphotypes.
 * Yamamoto & Newton (2024) report the discovery of the first aleocharine rove beetle (a member of the genus Cypha) from the Eocene Bitterfeld amber (Germany).
 * The first fossil click beetle and ptilodactylid larvae reported to date are described from the Cretaceous amber from Myanmar by Zippel et al. (2024).
 * A redescription of Aphytocerus communis, Baissophytum convexum and Baissopsis ampla is published by Telnov et al. (2024).

Dictyopteran research

 * Naugolnykh (2024) reports evidence indicating that wings of the blattoid insect Sogdoblatta from the Triassic Madygen Formation (Kyrgyzstan) had the same venation pattern as plants with the pinnate foliages from the same formation, especially members of the genus Cladophlebis, and interprets this finding as likely evidence of mimicry.
 * Mizumoto et al. (2024) describe a Baltic amber inclusion from the Yantarny mine (Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia) preserving a female–male pair of the termite species Electrotermes affinis, interpreted as a likely tandem running pair.

Formicoidea research

 * A study on the diversity dynamics of ants throughout their evolutionary history is published by Jouault et al. (2024), who interpret their findings as indicating that extinction of stem ants was more likely caused by their specialized morphology rather than by competition with crown ants, as well as indicating that the radiation of the flowering plants acted as a buffer against extinction and a driver of diversification in ants.
 * Taniguchi et al. (2024) study the microstructure and distribution of sensilla from the antennae of Gerontoformica gracilis, and find that G. gracilis already had sensilla used by extant ants for detecting alarm pheromones and for distinguishing nestmates from intruders, and was capable of social chemical communication through pheromones used by modern ants.

Neuropteran research

 * Buchner et al. (2024) describe new lacewing larvae from the Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, demonstrating the presence of trumpet-shaped elongate empodia in members of the families Nymphidae and Osmylidae, and argue that the empodium evolved only once in Neuroptera as was subsequently lost by several neuropteran lineages.
 * A berothoid larva representing the first record of either the family Berothidae or the family Rhachiberothidae from the Eocene Rovno amber (Ukraine) reported to date is described by Makarkin & Perkovsky (2024).

Raphidiopteran research

 * Haug et al. (2024) describe a snakefly larva from the Cretaceous amber from Myanmar showing a mixture of characters from different developmental stages of extant and fossil snakeflies, and interpret this finding as indicating that metamorphosis was less pronounced in fossil snakeflies than in extant ones.

Odonatopteran research

 * An aktassiid dragonfly of undetermined generic and specific placement, representing the youngest record of the family reported to date, is described from the Cenomanian amber from Myanmar by Fan et al. (2024).

Hemipteran research

 * A review of the forewing venation in the Paleozoic and Mesozoic planthoppers is published by Bucher et al. (2024)
 * Fabrikant et al. (2024) describe two new specimens of Mimaeurypterus burmiticus from the Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, providing new information on the morphology of this planthopper, and interpret M. burmiticus as adapted to camouflage on tree bark.
 * A redescription of Bolbossus bervoetsi, based on a female and fifth instar nymph from the Eocene Baltic amber, is published by Gnezdilov (2024).

Other insect research

 * Taxonomic revision of the miomopteran family Permosialidae is published Aristov & Rasnitsyn (2024).
 * Cui et al. (2024) describe new fossil material of Aristovia daniili from the Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, and identify Aristovia as a member of the stem group of Grylloblattodea.

General research

 * A study on the taxonomy and taphonomy of insects fossils from Alderton Hill (Gloucestershire, United Kingdom), providing evidence of the presence of a diverse insect fauna (including representatives of 12 orders, 21 families, 24 genera and 21 species) during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event, is published by Swaby et al. (2024).
 * A study on mine damage on gymnosperm specimens from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation (China), probably produced by members of basal lineages of polyphagan beetles, monotrysian moths and tenthredinoid sawflies, is published by Xiao et al. (2024), who argue that the evolution of the mining associations of insects with gymnospermous plants during the Jurassic was likely caused by the appearance of new, more foliose plant lineages that provided more accessible food resources for mining insects.
 * A study on the ecology of the Aptian insect fauna from the Nova Olinda Member of the Crato Formation (Brazil) is published by Bezerra & Mendes (2024), who interpret the studied insect fauna as living in an environment similar to modern long-standing wetlands, dominated by dominanted by fully terrestrial taxa, and relatively richer in palaeopterans than insect faunas from the Yixian and Zaza formations.
 * Evidence indicating that the radiation of the flowering plants mitigated insect extinction (especially during the Cretaceous period) and drove the origination of insects (especially during the Cenozoic) is presented by Peris & Condamine (2024).
 * Loewen et al. (2024) describe a diverse amber deposit from the Maastrichtian strata from the Big Muddy Badlands (Canada), preserving fossils of representatives of seven arthropod orders and at least 11 insect families, and interpret the studied assemblage as providing evidence of a faunal turnover among insects prior to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
 * An assemblage of subfossil remains of insects, dominated by diverse beetles, is described from the Late Pleistocene strata from the Lebed site (Altai Republic, Russia) by Gurina et al. (2024), who interpret the studied insects as indicative of humid climate which was significantly colder than modern climate in the studied area.