Mine and gall predation as top down regulation in the plant–insect systems from the Cretaceous of Negev, Israel

Abstract

Fossil evidence of predation on leaf mines and galls opens the way to analyzing regulatory circuits in plant–insect interaction systems and assessing their evolutionary advancement. In the Cretaceous (mid-Turonian) flora of Negev, Israel, predation traces vary from the entire gall or mine excisions to minute punctures and slits over the mine tracks. Bite marks on the borders of predation holes representing different mouthpart morphologies may show how diverse the predators were. The efficiency of predation as a top down regulation force is attested on the basis of the gall and mine abundance, gall morphologies, mine configurations, co-occurrence of different mine types on leaves, and temporary mining. In turn, the regulation efficiency is considered as a criterion of evolutionary advancement of the plant–insect community as a whole. It is suggested that the coeval Cretaceous coastal and inland communities differed in the relative significance of top-down regulation.