
Evidence of plant–insect interaction in the Early Cretaceous Flora from the Crato Formation, Araripe Basin, Northeast Brazil
2017; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 31; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/08912963.2017.1408611
ISSN1029-2381
AutoresEdilson Bezerra dos Santos Filho, Karen Adami‐Rodrigues, Flaviana Jorge de Lima, Renan Alfredo Machado Bantim, Torsten Wappler, Antônio Álamo Feitosa Saraiva,
Tópico(s)Plant and Fungal Species Descriptions
ResumoThe analysis of insect-plant interaction can be provide paleoecological and paleoenvironmental important data for understanding the co-evolution between plants and insects. Since the appearance of the first evidence of leaves damaged by insects, these organisms have evolved together. In the Araripe Basin, the Crato Formation stands out by having abundance and diversity of fossils species of plants and insects. In this work they are documented interaction records in specimens of ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms, showing a wide variety of types of interactions. Here we analyze 56 fossil specimens from the collections of the Museum of Paleontology and the Laboratory of Paleontology of the Universidade Regional do Cariri. The types of damage identified in this study is insect galls, leaf margin feeding (herbivory), leaf mines, oviposition of insects and skeletonization, which are present in 19 specimens. This analysis in search for evidences of plant–insect interaction contributes with new interaction patterns for the Crato Formation. Although the low sample rate, the new registers for plant-insect association were compared to records from different cretaceous basins. This suggests new possibilities in the studies for ecological relations and coevolutionary plant-insect during the Cretaceous. In addition, a new type of damage is identified in a pteridophyte.
Referência(s)