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Journal of Paleontology

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Herbivory in Gingers from Latest Cretaceous to Present: Is the Ichnogenus Cephaloleichnites (Hispinae, Coleoptera) a Rolled-Leaf Beetle?

¹ Department of Biology, University of Miami, 1301 Memorial Dr., Coral Gables, Florida 33124, <carlos@bio.miami.edu>
² Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

	INTRODUCTION

 
IT IS suggested that rolled-leaf hispine beetles (Hispinae, Coleoptera) and plants from the order Zingiberales maintained a highly specialized plant-herbivore interaction for >60 My. The evidence supporting this old and conservative interaction are herbivory marks found on leaves of the genus Zingiberopsis (Zingiberaceae) from the latest Cretaceous and early Eocene. This fossil herbivory was described as the ichnotaxon Cephaloleichnites strongii (Hispinae, Coleoptera), based on the assumption that this type of herbivory can be solely attributed to extant rolled-leaf beetles. This ichnotaxon has been a key element in several analyses on the origin, radiation and diversification of tropical insect herbivores. In this paper we report feeding patterns equivalent to those described in Zingiberopsis fossils but produced by larvae of Pyralidae and Choreutidae (Lepidoptera) and Anopsilus weevils (Curculionidae, Coleoptera) in four families of extant Zingiberales. We discuss the implications of C. strongii not being a rolled leaf beetle and how this may affect the current knowledge of the co-diversification of rolled-leaf beetles and their host plants from the order Zingiberales.

In their paper Timing the radiation of leaf-beetles: Hispines on gingers from latest Cretaceous to recent, Wilf et al. proposed that rolled-leaf hispine beetles (Hispinae, Coleoptera) and plants from the order Zingiberales maintained a highly specialized plant-herbivore interaction in the new world for >60 m.y. (2000). They concluded this based on feeding tracks present in the leaves of 11 fossil specimens of the genus Zingiberopsis (Zingiberaceae) from the latest Cretaceous and early Eocene (Hickey and Peterson, 1978; Wilf et al., 2000). Wilf et al., assured that these herbivory marks can be solely attributed to rolled-leaf beetles based on its similarity with the herbivory patterns described for hispines feeding on extant Heliconia (Heliconiaceae) (Strong, 1977). Wilf et al. (2000) proposed the ichnotaxon Cephaloleichnites strongii . . . [Full Text of this Article]