The Middle Jurassic palaeoenvironment of the Daohuguo area can be visualised as temperate, humid and seasonal, with variations in precipitation. This period is partially characterised by diverse gymnosperm forests which may have provided the ideal environment for the adaptation of epiphytic macrolichens. Forest ecosystems similar to these recovered again following the
end-Triassic mass extinction (200 Mya). This makes it possible for the existence of gymnosperm epiphytic lichens during the middle-Jurassic from which
D. ciliiferus is dated. However, there is no empiric fossil evidence to support this evolutionary path nor the potential transition of epiphytic lichens from gymnosperm to angiosperm substrates.
Insect-lichen mimesis A moth lacewing genera –
Lichenipolystoechotes – may have been associated with
D. ciliiferus via a
mimetic relationship. Two new species of moth lacewing were described from fossils found at Daohugou 1 (near Daohugou Village, China) at the Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation, close to the site in which
D. ciliiferus fossils were found. They were given the genus
Lichenipolystoechotes (family
Ithonidae) to indicate their possible association with
D. ciliiferus lichen. Structural similarities between the branching patterns on the wings of the insect fossil specimens of
Lichenipolystoechotes and thalli of
D. ciliiferus could indicate the earliest known example of insect-lichen mimesis. Additionally, black spots present on the wings of one fossil species,
Lichenipolystoechotes ramimaculatus, resemble the black spots found on
D. ciliiferus specimens. It has been hypothesised that these moth lacewings could have camouflaged themselves effectively against a backdrop of
D. ciliiferus lichen, providing them with a survival advantage. However, evidence of the evolution of insect-lichen mimesis is largely missing in the fossil record and this potential lichen-insect mimesis requires further investigation. == References ==