Plant-Insect Interactions on Aquatic and Terrestrial Angiosperms from the Latest Albian (Early Cretaceous) of Estercuel (Northeastern Spain) and Their Paleoenvironmental Implications.

Fossils of plant-insect interactions are direct evidence of paleoecological relationships between these two dominant groups in terrestrial ecosystems. We present a variety of plant-insect interactions from the late Early Cretaceous (latest Albian) in the Estercuel locality in northeastern Spain (Iberian Peninsula), affecting two types of terrestrial angiosperms and the basal eudicot Klitzschophyllites, which is one of the oldest putative members of aquatic Ranunculales found to date. The study of these interactions revealed 23 different damage types belonging to eight functional feeding groups (hole feeding, margin feeding, skeletonization, surface feeding, piercing and sucking, mining, oviposition and galling), suggesting these angiosperms were an important source of food and lodging for insects in the Iberian ecosystems during the late Early Cretaceous. Notably, the diversity of damage in the leaves of angiosperms suggests a diverse community of herbivorous insects and a variety of strategies of interactions with plants at the end of the Early Cretaceous in the southwestern Tethys realm.

An Anatomically Preserved Cone-like Flower from the Lower Cretaceous of China.

Although diverse fossil angiosperms (including their reproductive organs) have been reported from the Early Cretaceous, few of them are well-documented due to poor preservation and limited technologies available to apply. For example, paraffin sectioning, a routine technology applied to reveal the anatomical details of extant plants, was hitherto at most rarely applied to fossil plants. This undermines the comparability between the outcomes of studies on fossil and extant plants, and makes our understanding on plants incomplete and biased. Here, we applied paraffin sectioning technology, in addition to light microscopy, SEM, and TEM, to document a fossil reproductive organ, Xilinia gen. nov., from the Early Cretaceous in Inner Mongolia, China. The anatomical details of this new reproductive organ were documented. Xilinia bears a remarkable resemblance to conifer cones, although its ovules are enclosed in carpels. The paradoxical cone-like morphology of Xilinia appears to represent a transitional snapshot of plant evolution that is absent in extant plants.

Jurassic Palynology from "The Dinosaur Coast" of Asturias (Lastres Fm., Northwestern Spain): Palynostratigraphical and Palaeoecological Insights.

Abundant fossils of vertebrates (mainly footprints and bones of dinosaurs) and numerous invertebrates occur in the Upper Jurassic deposits of the Lastres Formation in the Asturias region, North of Spain. However, no palynological study has been published from this geological formation; therefore, much palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological information is still unknown. In this study, a total of 62 morphospecies, belonging to 49 different morphogenera were identified, including pollen, spores, algae remains, fungi spores, dinoflagellates, foraminifera, and scolecodonts from four different locations on the Asturian coast. Spores are the dominant group of palynomorphs, both in diversity and abundance, contrasting with the minor diversity of pollen grains. The age of some key taxa indicates that the palynological assemblage cannot be older than the Kimmeridgian, suggesting a Kimmeridgian-Tithonian age. The botanical and environmental affinities of the pollen and spores indicate the presence of different plant assemblages, including plant communities from humid areas such as the margin of rivers and small freshwater ponds that were dominated by bryophytes and ferns, and a coastal plant community that would inhabit arid areas and would be dominated by gymnosperms and some pteridophytes. The SEM analyses of wood remains show the abundance of charcoalified remains suggesting that wildfires were usual in "The Dinosaur Coast" of Asturias during the Kimmeridgian.

The First Representative of the Roachoid Family Spiloblattinidae (Insecta, Dictyoptera) from the Late Pennsylvanian of the Iberian Peninsula.

Sysciophlebia 'sp. form Villablino', the first Iberian representative of the Palaeozoic-Early Mesozoic family Spiloblattinidae, is described and illustrated. Its forewing colour pattern is strongly similar to those of the Gzhelian-early-middle Asselian species Sysciophlebia euglyptica, Sysciophlebia ilfeldensis, Sysciophlebia rubida, and 'Sysciophlebia sp. form KBQ', supporting the currently proposed Gzhelian age for its type locality. It supports the use of the representatives of the Spiloblattinidae for stratigraphic purposes. The diagnoses and limits of the families Subioblattidae, Phyloblattidae, Compsoblattidae, Spiloblattinidae, and of the spiloblattinid genera are discussed.

Insect and Plant Diversity in Hot-Spring Ecosystems during the Jurassic-Cretaceous Boundary from Spain (Aguilar Fm., Palencia).

Hydrothermal palaeoenvironments are very uncommon in Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous deposits worldwide. We present new plant and insect remains from travertines formed during the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary in northern Spain (Aguilar Fm., Palencia province). A total of 136 plant specimens and three insect wings were collected and studied. This entomofauna consists of dragonfly (Odonata) wings including Cymatophlebiidae and an undetermined new genus and species of Aktassiidae, representing the first report of these families for the Iberian Peninsula. The fossil flora shows different morphotypes of plants, which have been tentatively assigned to three different genera. The taphocoenosis of the flora was dominated by Bennettitales (98.5%) including cf. Pterophyllum sp., Ptilophyllum cf. acutifolium, Ptilophyllum cf. pecten, Ptilophyllum cf. pectiniformis and cf. Ptilophyllum sp., and the occasional presence of ferns (1.5%) represented by the taxon Cladophlebis cf. denticulata. The presence of the Anisoptera Cymatophlebia cf. longialata suggests a higher affinity for a Tithonian age of the studied site, and the anatomy and palaeogeographical distribution of this species suggest capacity to migrate for rather long distances. The floristic composition of the site differs remarkably from other Tithonian-Berriasian floras of the Iberian Peninsula. The presence of Odonata and the distinctive flora in (semi)arid conditions could be due to the hot-spring providing an environmental niche with constant conditions of warmth and humidity forming an 'ecological oasis'.

Acrostichum, a Pioneering Fern of Floodplain Areas from the Late Oligocene Sariñena Formation of the Iberian Peninsula.

Acrostichum is considered today an opportunistic fern in disturbed areas, which indicates the first stages of colonisation of such zones. However, in the fossil record, Acrostichum appears related to fluvio-lacustrine environments, freshwater marshes and mangrove deposits. We report here for first time fossil evidence of Acrostichum that reveals a pioneering behaviour of this fern in the colonisation of perturbed communities in Europe, which corroborates previous assumptions about the paleobiology of Acrostichum. Plant remains were collected from the Chattian (late Oligocene) La Val fossil site (Estadilla, Huesca, northeastern Spain) belonging to the Sariñena Formation, which mainly embraces crevasse splays, levees and floodplain deposits. Evidence shows that Acrostichum grew within the levee's vegetal community or close to/on the river banks as well as on floodplain areas and closer to/on the shores of ephemeral ponds. But most importantly, the observed co-existence of Equisetum and Acrostichum remains in the same beds indicates that such strata represent short-lived inundated terrains, e.g., floodplains where the water table was temporarily stagnant. Evidence shows wetland environments dominated by pioneering taxa, implying a pioneering role for Acrostichum during the late Oligocene in the Iberian Peninsula.