“Parrotia” pristina (Ettingshausen 1851) Stur 1867 with feeding traces.

By oilshale

• August 22, 2022

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Hamamelidaceae
Genus: "Parrotia"
Species: "Parrotia" pristina
Author Citation (Ettingshausen 1851) Stur 1867

Geological Time Scale

Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Cenozoic
Period: Neogene
Sub Period: None
Epoch: Pliocene
International Age: Piacenzian

Stratigraphy

Willershausen Formation

Provenance

Collector: T. Bastelberger
Date Collected: 06/01/1970
Acquired by: Field Collection

Dimensions

Length: 3.5 cm
Width: 2.5 cm

Location

Clay pit Willershausen
Northeim District
Lower Saxony
Germany

• parrotia
• piacenzian
• pliocene
• tff-oilshale-pfl753
• willershausen

Comments

Taxonomy from GBIF.org.

There is a complex literature about this polymorphic species. Similar leaf shapes possess the recent genera Hamamelis L., Fothergilla L., and Parrotia C.A. Meyer, therefore the term "Parrotia" pristina (Ettingshausen) Stur is used.

Quote from B. Adroit 2020, p. 4 regarding the feeding traces: ”Currently, the main reference to identify and classify the plant–insect interactions in the fossil record is the ‘Guide to Insect (and Other) Damage Types on Compressed Plant Fossils’. This guide subdivides herbivory traces on leaves into seven functional feeding groups (FFGs): hole feeding, margin feeding, skeletonization, surface feeding, mining, piercing and sucking and galling.”

This type of feeding trace was assigned to the damage type DT297.

Identified by Dr. B. Androit, Swedish Museum of Natural History.

References:

Stur, D. (1867). Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Flora der Süßwasserquarze, der Congerien- und der Cerithienschichten im Wiener und Ungarischen Becken. Jahrbuch der kaiserlichköniglichen Geologischen Reichsanstalt 17, 77–188.
Ettingshausen, C. von (1851). Die Tertiaer-Floren der Oesterreichischen Monarchie. 1. Fossile Flora von Wien. Abhandlungen der Geologischen Reichsanstalt 2, 1–36.
Straus, A. (1977). Gallen, Minen und andere Frasspuren im Pliozän von Willershausen am Harz. Verh. Bot. Ver. Prov. Brandenburg 113: 43-80.
Tralau, H. (1963). Asiatic dicotyledonous affinities in the Cainozoic flora of Europa. Kungl. Svensk. Vetensk. Handl., 4 ser., 9,3, pp. 1-87.
Buzek, C. (1971). Tertiary flora from the northern part of the Petipsy Area (North-Bohemian Basin). Rozpr. Ustr. Ust. Geol. 36, pp 1-118.
Knobloch, Ervin (1998). Der pliozäne Laubwald von Willershausen am Harz (Mitteleuropa)
München. Documenta Naturae. 1998. No. 120, pp. 1-302.
Titchener F. R. (1999). Leaf feeding traces from the Upper Pliocene fossil Lagerstätte of Willershausen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Acta Palaeobot. 1999, Suppl. 2, 403-409.
Adroit B, Zhuang X, Wappler T, Terral J-F, Wang B. (2020). A case of long-term herbivory: specialized feeding trace on Parrotia (Hamamelidaceae) plant species. R. Soc. Open Sci. 7: 201449. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201449.
Labandeira CC, Wilf P, Johnson KR, Marsh F. (2007). Guide to insect (and other) damage types on compressed plant fossils. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Paleobiology.