Home / Ecology & Palaeoenvironment / Insect Oviposition

B. Adroit et al. (2021): Patterns of insect damage types reflect complex environmental signal in Miocene forest biomes of Central Europe and the Mediterranean. In PDF, Global and Planetary Change.
Note fig. 3N: Preservation of insect oviposition on Salix sp.

! O. Béthoux et al. (2004): Earliest Evidence of Insect Endophytic Oviposition. PDF file, see also here (abstract).

T.H. Büscher et al. (2023): Leaves that walk and eggs that stick: comparative functional morphology and evolution of the adhesive system of leaf insect eggs (Phasmatodea: Phylliidae). In PDF, BMC, Ecology and Evolution.

! R. Cenci and K. Adami-Rodrigues (2017): Record of gall abundance as a possible episode of radiation and speciation of galling insects, Triassic, Southern Brazil. In PDF, Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia, 20: 279-286.
See also here and there.

L. Chen et al. (2021): Ovipositor and mouthparts in a fossil insect support a novel ecological role for early orthopterans in 300 million years old forests. In PDF, eLife.

! P. Correia et al. (2020): The History of Herbivory on Sphenophytes: A New Calamitalean with an Insect Gall from the Upper Pennsylvanian of Portugal and a Review of Arthropod Herbivory on an Ancient Lineage. In PDF, Int. J. Plant Sci., 181. See also here.
Please take notice of fig. 3: Interpretative-view drawing of Annularia paisii sp. nov. and Paleogallus carpannularites ichnosp. nov.
Fig. 4: Reconstruction of the parasitic relationship between the insect-induced gall Paleogallus carpannularites ichnosp. nov. and its calamitalean host plant.

M.P. Donovan et al. (2023): Insect herbivore and fungal communities on Agathis (Araucariaceae) from the latest Cretaceous to Recent. In PDF, PhytoKeys 226: 109–158. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.226.99316.
See also here.

T.B. Dos Santos et al. (2024): Plant interactions with arthropods and pathogens at Sanzenbacher Ranch, early Permian of Texas, and implications for herbivory evolution in Southwestern Euramerica. Free access, Front. Ecol. Evol., Sec. Biogeography and Macroecology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2024.1368174.

Z. Feng et al. (2023): A Triassic tritrophic triad documents an early food-web cascade. Abstract, Current Biology, 32: 5165-5171.e2

Z. Feng et al. (2020): Plant–insect interactions in the early Permian Wuda Tuff Flora, North China. Free access, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology.

G. Geyer and K.-P. Kelber (1987): Flügelreste und Lebensspuren von Insekten aus dem Unteren Keuper Mainfrankens. PDF file, (in German).

S.C. Gnaedinger et al. (2023): Triassic Equisetites lateralis Phillips with strobilus in organic connection from Patagonia of Argentina and endophytic oviposition insect scars. Abstract, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology.

S.C. Gnaedinger et al. (2014): Endophytic oviposition on leaves from the Late Triassic of northern Chile: Ichnotaxonomic, palaeobiogeographic and palaeoenvironment considerations. In PDF, Geobios, 47: 221–236.
! Worth checking out: Supplementary materials.
See also here (abstract).

! L. Grauvogel-Stamm & K.-P. Kelber (1996): Plant-insect interactions and coevolution during the Triassic in Western Europe.- PDF file, 30 MB! Paleontologica Lombardia, N. S. 5: 5-23, 31 fig.; Milano. Abstract available here.

H. Hagdorn et al. (2015): 15. Fossile Lebensgemeinschaften im Lettenkeuper. - p. 359-385, PDF file, in German.
! Oviposition on plants from the germanotype Lower Keuper (Lettenkeuper, Erfurt Formation, Ladinian, Triassic).

In: Hagdorn, H., Schoch, R. & Schweigert, G. (eds.): Der Lettenkeuper - Ein Fenster in die Zeit vor den Dinosauriern. Palaeodiversity, Special Issue (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart).
! You may also navigate via back issues of Palaeodiversity 2015. Then scroll down to: Table of Contents "Special Issue: Der Lettenkeuper - Ein Fenster in die Zeit vor den Dinosauriern".
Still available via Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

V.S. Isaev et al. (2018): The fossil Permian plants from the Vorkuta series, Pechora Coal basin. Recent acquisitions in the collection of the Earth Science Museum at Lomonosov Moscow University. Moscow University Bulletin. Series 4. Geology. See also here (in PDF).
Note fig. 3: A giant Permian dragonfly produces the ovipositions on the shoot of a large equisetophyte.
Note Photo series 2, fig: 3: Paracalamites aff. frigidus Neuburg; two shoots preserved vertically within the layer, in situ.

V.S. Isaev et al. (2018): Permian Fossil Plants from the Sediments of the Vorkuta Series at the Pechora Coal Basin in the Collection of the Earth Science Museum of Moscow State University. Moscow University Geology Bulletin, 73: 434–443. See also here (in PDF).
Note fig. 2: The shoot of Paracalamitina cf. striata Zalessky emend. Naug. equisetophyte with probable ovipositions of dragonflies.
Note photo series 1, fig. 3: 3, Paracalamites aff. frigidus Neuburg; shoots preserved vertically within the layer.

K.-P. Kelber and G. Geyer (1989): Lebensspuren von Insekten an Pflanzen des Unteren Keupers. PDF file (in German), Cour. Forsch.-Inst. Senckenberg, 109: 165-174.

K.-P. Kelber (1988): Was ist Equisetites foveolatus? PDF file (in German), In: Hagdorn, H. (ed.): Neue Forschungen zur Erdgeschichte von Crailsheim. Sonderbände d. Ges. f. Naturk. in Württemberg, 1: 166-184.

V.A. Krassilov and A.P. Rasnitsyn (2008): Plant-arthropod interactions in the early angiosperm history: evidence from the Cretaceous of Israel. PDF file, 222 p., (Pensoft Publishers & Brill Academic Publishers), Sofia, Moscow.

V. Krassilov et al. (2007): Insect egg sets on angiosperm leaves from the Lower Cretaceous of Negev, Israel. In PDF, Cretaceous Research 28: 803-811. See also here.

M. Laass and N. Hauschke (2019): First evidence of borings in calamitean stems and other plant-arthropod interactions from the late Pennsylvanian of the Saale Basin. In PDF, ICCI 2019 Abstract + Field;
Hallesches Jahrbuch für Geowissenschaften, Beiheft 46. See also here and there.

M. Laaß and C. Hoff (2014): The earliest evidence of damselfly-like endophytic oviposition in the fossil record. Abstract, Lethaia, 10. See also here (in PDF) and there (Universität Heidelberg, in German).

M. Laaß and C. Hoff (2013): The first evidence of insect endophytic oviposition from the Wettin Member of the Siebigerode Formation of the Saale Basin (Upper Carboniferous, Stefanian C, Gzhelian). Abstract, PDF page 96. In: Reitner, J., Qun, Y., Yongdong, W. and Reich, M. (eds.): Palaeobiology and Geobiology of Fossil Lagerstätten through Earth History. Abstract Volume., Göttingen.

! C.C. Labandeira and T. Wappler (2023): Arthropod and pathogen damage on fossil and modern plants: exploring the origins and evolution of herbivory on land. In PDF, Annual Review of Entomology, 68: 341-361.
See also here (open access).
Note figure 1: The FFG-DT system [FFG = functional feeding group, DT = damage type] for documenting and analyzing herbivory in the fossil record.
Figure 2: Important studies of plant–insect interactions from plant assemblages of the fossil record.

! C.C. Labandeira (2021): Ecology and Evolution of Gall-Inducing Arthropods: The Pattern from the Terrestrial Fossil Record. In PDF, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9: 632449. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2021.632449.

! C.C. Labandeira et al. (2007): Guide to Insect (and Other) Damage Types on Compressed Plant Fossils. In PDF, Version 3.0. Smithsonian Institution, Washington. See also here.

C.C. Labandeira et al. (1994): Ninety-seven million years of angiosperm-insect association: paleobiological insights into the meaning of coevolution. In PDF, PNAS.

M.B. Lara et al. (2017): Palaeoenvironmental interpretation of an Upper Triassic deposit in southwestern Gondwana (Argentina) based on an insect fauna, plant assemblage, and their interactions. In PDF, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 476: 163–180. See also here.

J. Lee et al. (2024): Microtomography of an enigmatic fossil egg clutch from the Oligocene John Day Formation, Oregon, USA, reveals an exquisitely preserved 29-million-year-old fossil grasshopper ootheca. Free access, Parks Stewardship Forum, 40. https://doi.org/10.5070/P540162928
"... Using micro­tomography, we studied an enigmatic fossil egg clutch
[] Based on the morphology of the overall structure and the eggs, we conclude that the specimen represents a fossilized underground ootheca of the grasshoppers and locusts (Orthoptera: Caelifera) ..."

! X. Lin et al. (2019): Exploiting Nondietary Resources in Deep Time: Patterns of Oviposition on Mid-Mesozoic Plants from Northeastern China. Free access, International Journal of Plant Sciences, 180.

! S. McLoughlin and A.A. Santos (2024): Excavating the fossil record for evidence of leaf mining. Open access, New Phytologist.
Note figure 1: Key events in the evolution of the leaf-mining strategy with representative illustrations of fossilized mine types through geological time.

! S. McLoughlin et al. (2021): Arthropod interactions with the Permian Glossopteris flora. In PDF, Journal of Palaeosciences, 70: 43-133.

S. McLoughlin (2011): New records of leaf galls and arthropod oviposition scars in Permian-Triassic Gondwanan gymnosperms. Open access, Australian Journal of Botany, 59: 156-169.

! H. Meinolf and W. Meinolf (2016): Reproduction Structures of Damselflies (Odonata, Zygoptera): are They Trace Fossils or not? In PDF, Palaeodiversity, 9: 89-94. See also here.

Q.-M. Meng et al. (2019): The natural history of oviposition on a ginkgophyte fruit from the Middle Jurassic of northeastern China. In PDF, Insect Science, 26: 171–179. See also here.

P. Moisan et al. (2012): Lycopsid-arthropod associations and odonatopteran oviposition on Triassic herbaceous Isoetites. In PDF, Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology.
See also here.
! Don´t miss table 1, the compilation of evidence for oviposition in the fossil record.

! C. Müller et al. (2023): An integrated leaf trait analysis of two Paleogene leaf floras. In PDF, PeerJ 11: e15140 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15140.
See also here.
Note figure 1: Schematic overview of the datasets used and their selection process.
Figure 6: Herbivory metrics compared between Seifhennersdorf and Suletice-Berand regarding whole assemblages and fossil-species phenology.
"... This study presents the Integrated Leaf Trait Analysis (ILTA), a workflow for the combined application of methodologies in leaf trait and insect herbivory analyses on fossil dicot leaf assemblages ..."

Y. Na et al. (2014): The insect oviposition firstly discovered on the Middle Jurassic Ginkgoales leaf from Inner Mongolia, China. In PDF, Acta Geologica Sinica. See also here (abstract).

J.N. Peláez et al. (2022): Evolution and genomic basis of the plant-penetrating ovipositor: a key morphological trait in herbivorous Drosophilidae. Free access, Proc. R. Soc. B 289: 20221938.

! R. Pérez-de la Fuente et al. (2018): The hatching mechanism of 130-million-year-old insects: an association of neonates, egg shells and egg bursters in Lebanese amber. In PDF, Palaeontology, 2018, pp. 1–13. See also here (open access).

J.F. Petrulevicius et al. (2011): The diversity of Odonata and their endophytic ovipositions from the Upper Oligocene Fossillagerstätte of Rott (Rhineland, Germany). ZooKeys, 130: 67-89.

M.E. Popa and A. Zaharia (2010): Early Jurassic ovipositories on bennettitalean leaves from Romania. In PDF, Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae, 7.

! C. Pott et al. (2008): Fossil Insect Eggs and Ovipositional Damage on Bennettitalean Leaf Cuticles from the Carnian (Upper Triassic) of Austria. In PDF, Journal of Paleontology, 82: 778-789. See also here.

! E. Romero-Lebrón et al. (2022): Endophytic insect oviposition traces in deep time. In PDF, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 590.
See also here.

E. Romero-Lebrón et al. (2020): Geometric morphometrics of endophytic oviposition traces of Odonata (Eocene, Argentina). Open access, Royal Society Open Science, 7: 201126.

E. Romero-Lebrón et al. (2019): Geometric morphometrics to interpret the endophytic egg-laying behavior of Odonata (Insecta) from the Eocene of Patagonia, Argentina. In PDF, Journal of Paleontology, 93: 1126–1136. See also here.

! G. Roselt (1954): Ein neuer Schachtelhalm aus dem Keuper und Beiträge zur Kenntnis von Neocalamites meriani Brongn. PDF file, in German. Geologie, 3: 617-643.
See also here. Available through the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.
! Note plate 1 ("Tafel 1"): "Equisetites foveolatus", one of the first documented fossil oviposition structures on Triassic plants.

A.A. Santos et al. (2023): Plant–Insect Interactions on Aquatic and Terrestrial Angiosperms from the Latest Albian (Early Cretaceous) of Estercuel (Northeastern Spain) and Their Paleoenvironmental Implications. Open access, Plants, 12.

A.A. Santos et al. (2022): A Robinson Crusoe story in the fossil record: Plant-insect interactions from a Middle Jurassic ephemeral volcanic island (Eastern Spain). Free access, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 583.

! Laura C. Sarzetti et al. (2009): Odonatan Endophytic Oviposition from the Eocene of Patagonia: The Ichnogenus Paleoovoidus and Implications for Behavioral Stasis. PDF file, J. Paleont., 83: 431-447. See also here (abstract), and there.

S.R. Schachat et al. (2014): Plant-Insect Interactions from Early Permian (Kungurian) Colwell Creek Pond, North-Central Texas: The Early Spread of Herbivory in Riparian Environments. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 175.

F.-J. Scharfenberg et al. (2022): A possible terrestrial egg cluster in driftwood from the Lower Jurassic (Late Pliensbachian) of Buttenheim (Franconia, Germany), Free access, Zitteliana, 96: 135–143.

D.E. Shcherbakov et al. (2009): Permian insects from the Russky Island, South Primorye. Russian Entomol. J., 18: 7–16.
Note figures 15–19: Exophytic insect eggs (?Megasecoptera) on plants.

M. Steinthorsdottir et al. (2015): Evidence for insect and annelid activity across the Triassic-Jurassic transition of east Greenland. Abstract, Palaios, 30: 597-607. See also here (in PDF).

G.W. Stull et al. (2013): The "Seeds" on Padgettia readi are Insect Galls: Reassignment of the Plant to Odontopteris, the Gall to Ovofoligallites N. Gen., and the Evolutionary Implications Thereof. In PDF, Journal of Paleontology, 87: 217-231.

! Q. Tian et al. (2020): Experimental investigation of insect deposition in lentic environments and implications for formation of Konservat Lagerstätten. Abstract, Palaeontology, 63: 565-578. See also here (in PDF).

! Thomas van de Kamp et al. (2018): Parasitoid biology preserved in mineralized fossils. Open access, Nature Communications, 9.
Using high-throughput synchrotron X-ray microtomography 55 parasitation events by four wasp species were identified from the Paleogene of France.

D.V. Vasilenko (2008): Insect ovipositions on aquatic plant leaves Quereuxia from the Upper Cretaceous of the Amur region Paleontological Journal, 42: 514–521.
See likewise here.

D.V. Vasilenko and A.P. Rasnitsyn (2007): Fossil Ovipositions of Dragonflies: Review and Interpretation. In PDF, Paleontological Journal, 41: 1156–1161.
See also here.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Gall.
Pflanzengalle (in German).