Liquidambar (Altingiaceae) and associated insect herbivory from the Miocene of southeastern China

Abstract

The infructescences and associated leaves of Liquidambar from the middle Miocene Fotan Group, southeastern China, were assigned to a new species, Liquidambar fujianensis sp. nov., based on their long persistent styles, fruit morphological and anatomical characters. The comprehensive anatomical information on the infructescences, including the seeds, inner carpel wall cells and outer fruit tissue cells, were discussed and compared in detail. The infructescences and leaves are considered to belong the same plant and have a close relationship with the modern species Liquidambar formosana. Insect-mediated damage was investigated on the leaves of L. fujianensis sp. nov., and five principal types of damage, hole feeding, margin feeding, surface feeding, skeletonization, and galling, were categorized. The damage richness indicates that our fossils were distributed in a region with a warm and wet climate, and we inferred that the possible phytophagous insect as herbivore culprits against L. fujianensis sp. nov. of the middle Miocene Fotan flora belong to the insect orders Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Hemiptera.