Insect bite marks show first fossilevidence for plants' leaves folding up at night currentbiology
Feng has had a long interest in fossil plant-insect interactions and their coevolution, finding evidence of insect damage of varying types in the fossil record. In 2013, he discovered an interesting pattern of insect damage in living plants: symmetrical holes punctured through the leaves, which he later realized looked the way they did because insects fed on the leaves while they were folded.
The study now shows that, indeed, they could. The researchers looked to gigantopterids, an extinct group of seed-producing plants characteristic of the Permian Cathaysian floras from about 300–250 million years ago. They thought these plants were the best place to look because the plants are known to experience frequent attacks from plant-eating insects. Their broad leaves with robust midvein also make insect damage easy to detect.
He went on to examine hundreds of samples and photos in the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden to find even more convincing evidence for nyctinasty. The findings add to understanding of the ecology and evolution of this enigmatic group of plants, according to the researchers. Symmetrical damage on the unfolded leaves of the common clover Trifolium repens. Credit: Stephen McLoughlin
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