Evidence of temporary mining in the Cretaceous fossil mine assemblage of Negev,Israel

摘要

Temporary mining is a peculiar behavioral trait in leaf parasites requiring adaptations of consecutive larval stages to the endophytic and ectophytic life.The first fossil evidence for the origin of the trait comes from the Cretaceous (Turonian) plant-insect locality of the Negev Desert containing rich trace assemblages of leaf parasites,including blotch mines with leaf pieces cut out for case construction,as well as attached larval cases.The host plants are deciduous broadleafs or aquatic angiosperms with emergent leaves,suggesting that initial acquisition of the habit might have been related to leaf abscission and the risk for the larva being chocked in the mine during floods.Unlike tracks of permanent miners,temporary mines never co-occur on leaves with other type mines,which attests to their effect of enhancing plant resistance.Mine predation appears to have been widespread in the Cretaceous biotic community,suggesting a possibility of top-down regulation of mining habits at this early stage of their evolutionary development.