PLANT-INSECT INTERACTIONS ON DICOTS AND FERNS FROM THE MIOCENE OF ARGENTINA

Abstract The study of plant-insect interactions provides valuable information about the ecology of feeding behavior and the relationships between the host plant and the producer insect. Records of feeding traces are relatively rare for the Miocene of South America. Here, new records of plant-insect interactions on dicot leaves and fern fronds from the middle and late Miocene of Argentina are presented. In total, 1204 dicot and fern impressions were analyzed including 384 from the San Jose Formation and 856 from the Palo Pintado Formation. Traces of arthropod herbivory are found on 303 foliar impressions, 288 from the Palo Pintado Formation and just 15 from the San Jose Formation. Forty-four percent of all traces were found on Thelypteris interrupta (Willd.) Iwatsuki 1963 (Thelypteridaceae), followed by Cedrela fissiliformis Anzotegui and Horn 2011 (Meliaceae) (15.1%) and Schinus herbstii Anzotegui 1998 (Anacardiaceae) (11.3%). Thelypteris interrupta is associated with a low diversity of Damage Types, main...