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Late Permian wood-borings reveal an intricate network of ecological relationships

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Listed:
  • Zhuo Feng

    (Yunnan University
    Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences)

  • Jun Wang

    (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Ronny Rößler

    (Museum für Naturkunde
    TU Bergakademie Freiberg)

  • Adam Ślipiński

    (Australian National Insect Collection)

  • Conrad Labandeira

    (Smithsonian Institution
    University of Maryland
    Capital Normal University)

Abstract

Beetles are the most diverse group of macroscopic organisms since the mid-Mesozoic. Much of beetle speciosity is attributable to myriad life habits, particularly diverse-feeding strategies involving interactions with plant substrates, such as wood. However, the life habits and early evolution of wood-boring beetles remain shrouded in mystery from a limited fossil record. Here we report new material from the upper Permian (Changhsingian Stage, ca. 254–252 million-years ago) of China documenting a microcosm of ecological associations involving a polyphagan wood-borer consuming cambial and wood tissues of the conifer Ningxiaites specialis. This earliest evidence for a component community of several trophically interacting taxa is frozen in time by exceptional preservation. The combination of an entry tunnel through bark, a cambium mother gallery, and up to 11 eggs placed in lateral niches—from which emerge multi-instar larval tunnels that consume cambium, wood and bark—is ecologically convergent with Early Cretaceous bark-beetle borings 120 million-years later.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhuo Feng & Jun Wang & Ronny Rößler & Adam Ślipiński & Conrad Labandeira, 2017. "Late Permian wood-borings reveal an intricate network of ecological relationships," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-6, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-00696-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00696-0
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