First Report of Insect Endophytic Oviposition from the Upper Permian of the Pechora Basin, on a Leaf of Phylladoderma (Peltaspermopsida: Cardiolepidaceae)

Abstract

© 2020, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. Abstract: The first endophytic oviposition from the Upper Permian of the Pechora Basin (Talbeyskaya Formation, Severodvinian–Vyatkian) is described in a formal system. Paleoovoidus krassilovi sp. nov. is a linear oviposition arranged in two oppositely directed rows on a leaf of Phylladoderma arberi Zalessky, 1913; it was probably produced by an odonatan insect. Cuticle punctures that probably represent traces of feeding by small and/or young palaeodictyopteroid nymphs were previously described from Phylladoderma leaves found in the same deposits. Fossil insects remain unknown from the Talbeyskaya Formation, but fossil records of plant–insect interactions enable the reconstruction of a well-balanced insect community that included sucking phytophages (palaeodictyopteroids) and predators (odonatans).