Abstract
We present here the first record of plant-insect interactions from an ephemeral volcanic island that was placed 150 km away from the nearest continental mass. The island was formed and destroyed during the Aalenian (Middle Jurassic) in a shallow sea of the southwestern Tethyan realm corresponding today to a place located in eastern Spain. These plant-insect interactions were mainly documented in leaves of Cycadophytes (comprising both Cycads and Bennettitales), and they have been described and classified into different Damage Types (DTs) and Functional Feeding Groups (FFGs). The interactions were assigned to 11 different DTs including different types of hole feeding, margin feeding, surface feeding, piercing and sucking, mining(?), and some putative ovipositional scars. The presence of these interactions implies that the island was colonized by different groups of insects, including orders such as Coleoptera, Hemiptera, Odonata, or Lepidoptera. The low variety and incidence of interactions comparing with other Middle Jurassic plant-insect interactions assemblages indicate that the diversity of insects was not high, possibly due to the difficulty of reaching this island by various lineages, the small size of the landmass of the island, and the limited food availability (mainly Cycadophytes). Possible colonization strategies could be by atmospheric dispersion, using floating remains of plants or pterosaurs as vectors, by active flight for Lepidoptera, or by rafting and floating in marine currents for flightless or other insects. • First study of plant-insect interactions from the Jurassic of the Iberian Peninsula. • Comparison with other mid-Jurassic plant-insect interactions. • Identification of possible culprits for the different damages. • Discussion on colonization strategies by insects during the Jurassic.
Highlights
In the famous novel by Daniel Defoe (1660–1731), after being shipwrecked, Robinson Crusoe arrives on a small desert island far from the mainland, after a while he discovers that he is not alone and manages to adapt and survive in adverse conditions
A total of 11 different Damage Types (DTs) belonging to 6 Functional Feeding Groups (FFGs) were identified: hole feeding (DT01, DT02, DT03, DT04, DT64), margin feeding (DT12 and DT81), surface feeding (DT29), piercing and sucking (DT46), mining, and some putative ovipositions (DT76)
Analysis of the flora of the volcanic island of Camarena exhibits an interesting plant-insect interaction assemblage from the Aalenian (Middle Jurassic), in which at least 11 DTs belonging to 6 FFGs have been identified
Summary
In the famous novel by Daniel Defoe (1660–1731), after being shipwrecked, Robinson Crusoe arrives on a small desert island far from the mainland, after a while he discovers that he is not alone and manages to adapt and survive in adverse conditions. 2018; Mora et al, 2011; Zhang, 2011; Roskov et al, 2013; Stork, 2018) This key point makes interactions a valuable and direct source of information, serving as a window into past relationships be tween insects and plants. The history of these relationships includes mutualism, commensalism, parasitism, predation, and a long and fierce coevolutionary arms race (e.g., Maron et al, 2019; McCoy et al, 2021). Physical defences in bennettitaleans preserved by the presence of spines or stinging trichomes are well known and show that these plants quickly evolved means of repelling or minimizing attacks (Pott et al, 2012)
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