Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Labandeira, C. C. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Paleobiology of middle Eocene plant-insect associations from the Pacific Northwest

A preliminary report

Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, U.S.A. and Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, U.S.A.

Well-preserved, middle Eocene floras from the Pacific Northwest, particularly the graben-fill deposit at Republic, Washington, offer an unique window for examination of some of the earliest documented, modern-aspect, plant-insect associations in the fossil record. Of special interest is fossil plant damage attributable to leaf mining and galling taxa that is very similar or identical to modern damage on the same host genera, indicating the geologically long-term persistence of some associations. Other types of middle Eocene, insect-mediated damage appear generalized and are not assignable to known types of modern associations, owing in part to imperfect taxonomic resolution of plant host, insect herbivore, or more likely, extinction. This preliminary report records the taxonomically diverse and morphologically detailed wealth of preserved foliar material in a Lagerstätte, which is important for addressing the macroevolutionary tempo of plant-insect associations. This relevance includes the prevalence of long-term associations, extinction of plant host and interacting insect herbivores, and the occurrence of host-switching at Cenozoic time scales for taxa presently confined to eastern Asia and North America.

Key Words: plant-insect associations • leaf mining • galling • bud feeding • oviposition • leaf rolling • component community • plant hosts • Eocene • Republic Flora • Klondike Mountain Formation • paleobiogeography • extinction

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. L. Royer, L. Sack, P. Wilf, C. H. Lusk, G. J. Jordan, U. Niinemets, I. J. Wright, M. Westoby, B. Cariglino, P. D. Coley, et al. Fossil leaf economics quantified: calibration, Eocene case study, and implications Paleobiology, December 1, 2007; 33(4): 574 - 589. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Earliest Evidence of Insect Endophytic Oviposition Palaios, August 1, 2004; 19(4): 408 - 413.