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Early Cretaceous mealybug herbivory on a laurel highlights the deep‐time history of angiosperm–scale insect associations.

Authors :
Xiao, Lifang
Labandeira, Conrad C.
Ben‐Dov, Yair
Maccracken, S. Augusta
Shih, Chungkun
Dilcher, David L.
Ren, Dong
Source :
New Phytologist. Nov2021, Vol. 232 Issue 3, p1414-1423. 10p.
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

Summary: Insect fluid‐feeding on fossil vascular plants is an inconspicuous and underappreciated mode of herbivory that can provide novel data on the evolution of deep‐time ecological associations and indicate the host‐plant preferences of ancient insect herbivores. Previous fossil studies have documented piercing‐and‐sucking herbivory but often are unable to identify culprit insect taxa.One line of evidence are punctures and scale‐insect impression marks made by piercing‐and‐sucking insects that occasionally provide clues to the systematic identities and relationships of particular insect herbivores.We report here the earliest occurrences of piercing and sucking on early angiosperms as evidenced by scale insect covers, impression marks, punctures and body fossils – notably a mealybug – from the Lower Cretaceous Rose Creek Flora of the Dakota Formation (c. 103 Ma), in southeastern Nebraska, USA. The mealybug, two other scale insect taxa, and several distinctive damage types on laurel leaves and seed‐plant stems at Rose Creek document a diverse guild of piercing‐and‐sucking insects on early angiosperms.The discovery of an Early Cretaceous female mealybug indicates an early herbivorous association with a laurel host. These data provide direct evidence for co‐associations and possible coevolution of scale insects and their plant hosts during early angiosperm diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
0028646X
Volume :
232
Issue :
3
Database :
Academic Search Index
Journal :
New Phytologist
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
152819177
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17672