Temporary deleterious mass mutations relate to originations of cockroach families

Heritably transferred genome mutations extending phenotypic variability together with natural selection (alternatively with genetic drift, draft, stability, and passive selections) are the main conditions of species evolution. Intervals with high rates of detrimental mutations are virtually absent from the fossil record due to the difficulty of identifying them. Our evidence, based on living populations indicate that insect wing deformities represent heritable hypomorphic mutations that are similar to those observed in Chernobyl and Fukushima. Newly collected assemblages from two of the major diversification intervals, the Cretaceous (J/K or K1) Yixian Formation in China and Permian/Triassic (P/T) Poldars Formation in Russia, exhibit cockroach wing deformity rates of 27% and 42.5% (n = 120, 73), respectively. Wing deformity and principal, family rank origination rates (seven peaks each) correlate from the Mississippian/Pennsylvanian to the present (~ 320 Ma, n = 5059, r = 0.83, P = 0.005, rSpearman = 0.77), which is the first significant support for the association of detrimental mutations and evolution on the geological scale. It unexpectedly provides direct evidence for association of high-taxonomic rank changes and accumulation of mutations (which is neither trivial nor self-evident due to sophisticated patterns of gene flow), while this relationship is absent at species and genus levels. According to uncertainty of the numerical dating of non-marine sediments, a regular 62.05 ± 0.02 Ma periodicity of diversification and mass mutagenesis with the last peak at 3.95 ± 0.2 Ma (peaks possibly associated with origin and/or radiation of dinosaurs and frogs; birds and angiosperms; modern mammals; humans), is explanatory.