PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF PLANT–INSECT ASSOCIATIONS IN THE KAIPAROWITS FLORA, LATE CRETACEOUS OF UTAH

Reconstructing ancient plant-insect associations is vital to understanding modern biodiversity and its response to climate change. The well-documented paleontological record from the Kaiparowits Formation (Late Cretaceous, 76.6–74.5 Ma) of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in south-central Utah has significantly enhanced our understanding of ecology and biogeography of Campanian ecosystems. The associations between plants and their insect herbivores, which together constitute about half of all described extant species, is unknown from the Kaiparowits Formation. A preliminary assessment of the diversity and richness of insect damaged fossil leaves of Kaiparowits flora has yielded preliminary evidence for a wide diversity of insect herbivores. Eight functional feeding groups were recorded in the 912 plant fossil specimens, which include hole feeding, surface feeding, skeletonization, leaf mining, oviposition, piercing and sucking, galling, and seed predation. A large proportion of the fossil leaves (48.4%) were herbivorized by insects and specimens often displayed multiple damage types. Analysis of plant-insect associations is vital to the ongoing paleoecological reconstruction of the Kaiparowits Formation.