Fern Ecology: Interactions of ferns with fungi and animals

Premise of research. Even though the fossil record of oviposition provides a rich archive of plant resource use, it is deficient for a fundamental reason. Very few analyzable oviposition data have ...

Exploiting Nondietary Resources in Deep Time: Patterns of Oviposition on Mid-Mesozoic Plants from Northeastern China

One family, 12 monotypic genera, and 12 species of Triassic Cicadomorpha are described as new and two families, three genera, and three species are redescribed. All new taxa are from the Madygen Formation (Ladinian–Carnian) of Kyrgyzstan. Saaloscytinidae stat. nov. (Scytinopteroidea) includes Tingiopsis reticulata Becker-Migdisova, 1953 from Madygen and Saaloscytina Brauckmann et Schlueter, 1993 (= Chanarescytina Brauckmann, Martins-Neto et Gallego, 2006, syn. nov. = Chanarelytrina Martins-Neto et Gallego, 2006, syn. nov.) with one species from Germany and another from Argentina (Saaloscytina carmonae (Brauckmann, Martins-Neto et Gallego, 2006), comb. nov. = Chanarelytrina nana Martins-Neto et Gallego, 2006, syn. nov.). Maguviopseidae fam. nov. (Prosboloidea) comprises 2 subfamilies and 11 genera (all from Madygen): Sacvoyageinae subfam. nov. for Sacvoyagea ventrosa gen. et sp. nov. and Maguviopseinae subfam. nov. for Nonescyta mala gen. et sp. nov. and Nevicia imitans gen. et sp. nov. (Nonescytini trib. nov.), Maguviopsis kotchnevi Becker-Migdisova, 1953, Sitechka perforata gen. et sp. nov., Phyllotexta latens gen. et sp. nov., Cuanoma protracta gen. et sp. nov., Fasolinka beckermigdisovae gen. et sp. nov., Krendelia ansata gen. et sp. nov., Falcarta bella gen. et sp. nov., and Asiocula lima gen. et sp. nov. (Maguviopseini trib. nov.). Another family, Mesojabloniidae Storozhenko, 1992, is transferred from Grylloblattida to Hylicelloidea, and Fulgobole evansi gen. et sp. nov. and Scytachile emeljanovi gen. et sp. nov. are assigned to this family along with Mesojablonia kukalovae Storozhenko, 1992 (all three from Madygen). Homoplastic similarities of Saaloscytinidae and Maguviopseidae to Membracoidea and Mesojabloniidae to Fulgoroidea are discussed. The elaborate camouflage of these extinct hoppers and Dysmorphoptilidae is presumably due to increase of visual predation by small arboreal reptiles in the Triassic.

New and little-known families of Hemiptera Cicadomorpha from the Triassic of Central Asia—early analogs of treehoppers and planthoppers

An estimated 90% of terrestrial plants form symbiotic associations with soil fungi, and the majority of those plant species belong to families that characteristically form associations with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi (Smith & Read, 1997). The function of these associations is largely based upon the transfer of carbon (C) from the plant to the fungus, and upon the transfer of mineral nutrients, mainly phosphorus (P), from the fungus to the host plant. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi may confer other benefits, including improved soil aggregate stability, plant–water relationships and resistance to plant pathogens, but these benefits have rarely been quantified in an ecosystem context (Newsham et al., 1995).

Scaling-up evaluation of field functioning of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Herbivory with crypsis is not well documented in ferns. The present record of cryptic coloration of coccid Saissetia filicum Boisduval (Homoptera: Coccidae) to the sori of a fern species Asplenium nidus L. (Aspleniaceae) is unique. Predatory beetles (Jauravia sp., Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) that feed on the coccids, are suggested to be selective pressure for the development of the present homopteran soral crypsis. A higher rate of effective predation is noticed in the vegetative leaves than the fertile leaves. Aggressive ants were found harvesting honeydew secretions from the coccids and defending the trophobionts as well as the host fern from their natural enemies. In addition, a possible three-way mutualistic relationship among the coccids, its host fern and the tending ant is suggested. Differential numbers of coccids on vegetative and fertile leaves is correlated with their phenol content and degree of predation by beetles. Such coloration mimicry by the coccids may enable them to obtain the necessary blend of sorus of the host fern needed to evade beetle detection and attack.

Soral Crypsis: Protective Mimicry of a Coccid on an Indian Fern

Insect-fern interactions are not as well characterized as insect-angiosperm interactions. For example, the imitation of unique fern structures by insects has not been observed. On a recent trip to Puerto Rico, we collected ferns that bore small Lepidoptera imitating fern sori. Herbarium specimen searches indicate that these Lepidoptera are restricted to the Caribbean on ferns with highly visible sporangia. A possible selective pressure for the evolution of lepidopteran soral crypsis is wasp parasitism, as evidence of parasitoid wasps was found. However, it is more likely that soral crypsis evolved to avoid visually oriented predators such as birds or lizards.

Lepidopteran soral crypsis on Caribbean ferns

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Lepidopteran soral crypsis on Caribbean ferns