High frequency of arthropod herbivore damage in the Miocene Huaitoutala flora from the Qaidam Basin, northern Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Plant–arthropod interaction offers insight into the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems in the geological past. In this study, leaf fossils with arthropod traces, collected from the Miocene Huaitoutala flora, Qaidam Basin, northern Tibetan Plateau, were studied to provide direct evidence of plant–arthropod interactions on the Tibetan Plateau. The results show a total of 36 damage types belonging to eight different functional feeding groups, classified on 303 out of 433 leaf specimens with a damage frequency of 70%. Compared to other Miocene fossil floras worldwide, the Huaitoutala flora represents a relatively high frequency and diversity of damage. It indicates that, apart from climatic factors, the influence of local niche and biotic factors might have contributed to the intensive plant–arthropod interactions observed at that time, suggesting that the Miocene ecosystem hereof was not as barren as previously thought.