Plant-Arthropod Interactions in the Early Angiosperm History

Description:

A rich record of insect-plant interactions exists in the fossil record. Of particular current interest are the mid-Cretaceous deposits of the Negev Desert, Israel, covering the period of the rise and radiation of angiosperms - the flowering plants. Only a small fraction of insect diversity is represented by fossils that belong mostly to one extinct and nine extant families of beetles and cockroaches. Because similar structures are produced on leaves by arthropods of different systematic alliances, a purely morphological classification is worked out for the trace fossils, with only tentative assignment to natural taxa, referring to distinct types of parasitic behavior. It is the evolution of behavior that is documented by the trace fossils. The body fossils and parasitic traces represent morphologies and behavioral traits fairly advanced for their geological age. The expression, abundance, co-occurrence, and host specialization of parasitic structures, as well as the marks of predation on mines and galls betray regulatory mechanisms of plant - arthropod interaction, analysed in the broad context of ecosystem evolution, paleogeography and climate change