Evol Ecol Res 7: 479-488 (2005)     Full PDF if your library subscribes.

Coprolites in a Middle Triassic cycad pollen cone: evidence for insect pollination in early cycads?

Sharon D. Klavins,1* Derek W. Kellogg,1 Michael Krings,2 Edith L. Taylor1 and Thomas N. Taylor1

1Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and the Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-7534, USA and  2Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie & Geologie und GeoBio-CenterLMU, Richard-Wagner-Straße 10, 80333 München, Germany

Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed.
e-mail: sklavins@ku.edu

ABSTRACT

Question: What evidence is there for cycad–insect interactions in the fossil record?

Organism: The pollen cone Delemaya spinulosa Klavins, Taylor, Krings et Taylor.

Locality: Fremouw Formation (Middle Triassic), Fremouw Peak, Central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica.

Methods: We document the presence of pollen-laden coprolites in pollen sacs of a Middle Triassic cycad.

Conclusions: These coprolites are comparable with fecal pellets of modern arthropods and we suggest that they were produced by beetles. This provides the oldest unequivocal evidence for a cycad–insect interaction and may represent a precursory stage in the establishment of a more complex cycad–pollinator relationship.

Keywords: coprolites, Cycadales, insects, pollinivory, Triassic.

DOWNLOAD A FREE, FULL PDF COPY
IF you are connected using the IP of a subscribing institution (library, laboratory, etc.)
or through its VPN.

 

        © 2005 Sharon D. Klavins. All EER articles are copyrighted by their authors. All authors endorse, permit and license Evolutionary Ecology Ltd. to grant its subscribing institutions/libraries the copying privileges specified below without additional consideration or payment to them or to Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. These endorsements, in writing, are on file in the office of Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. Consult authors for permission to use any portion of their work in derivative works, compilations or to distribute their work in any commercial manner.

       Subscribing institutions/libraries may grant individuals the privilege of making a single copy of an EER article for non-commercial educational or non-commercial research purposes. Subscribing institutions/libraries may also use articles for non-commercial educational purposes by making any number of copies for course packs or course reserve collections. Subscribing institutions/libraries may also loan single copies of articles to non-commercial libraries for educational purposes.

       All copies of abstracts and articles must preserve their copyright notice without modification.