Evidence of Antiherbvore Defense in a Jurassic Fruit

Frugivory and antiherbvore defense are two games played by animals and plants in their arm racing, and they play important roles in the evolution and well-being of the current ecosystem. However, little is known about the history, especially in their early stage, due to lack of related fossil evidence, despite the history of angiosperms has been dated back to the Early Jurassic. Here we report a fossil fruit, Jingwangfructus gen. nov., from the Middle-Late Jurassic (>164 Ma) of Daohugou Village, Inner Mongolia, China, in which the currently earliest evidence of frugivory and antiherbvore defense are identified. The fossil is more or less three dimensionally preserved coalified drupe that has been superficially damaged by different animals in two different ways. The seed coat and pericarp surrounding parenchyma seed content suggest its angiospermous affinity. The seed with a distal micropyle is attached on the base of the former ovary, suggestive of a basal placentation with an orthotropous ovule in the former gynoecium. The occurrence of sclerenchyma in the fleshy pericarp and the damaged pericarp of Jingwangfructus suggests that interaction between the plant and animals has been established by the Late Jurassic. Apparently, the ecological relationship between angiosperms and animals has a history, the length and complexity of which are beyond former assumptions.