Fossil evidence of lichen grazing from Palaeogene amber

Autor(en)

Leyla Jean Seyfullah

Abstrakt

Lichens are important in many modern terrestrial ecosystems, but their fossil record has been very sparse. This has limited the chances for finding any evidence of their interactions with animals in past ecosystems. Recently, the fossil record of lichens has improved significantly with the discovery of numerous new inclusions from European Palaeogene ambers. Here, we report the first fossil evidence of animal–lichen interactions from one new fossil from Bitterfeld amber of central Germany. A foliose fossil lichen, possibly belonging to the Physciaceae, exhibits three feeding marks and co-preserved invertebrate faecal pellets. To gain insights into this Palaeogene lichen-invertebrate interaction, we compared the fossil grazing damage and faecal pellets to those obtained from several extant lichen feeders, including mites, collembolans, psocopterans, coleopteran larvae and gastropods. The results of the grazing experiments suggest that gastropods and mites most likely caused the feeding marks preserved in the fossil lichen.

Organisation(en)

Institut für Paläontologie

Journal

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology

Band

302

Anzahl der Seiten

10

ISSN

0034-6667

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2022.104664

Publikationsdatum

07-2022

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

105117 Paläobotanik, 106029 Pflanzenmorphologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Palaeontology

Link zum Portal

https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/de/publications/fossil-evidence-of-lichen-grazing-from-palaeogene-amber(01b589d3-8918-4467-b46f-bd048e610a37).html