Persistent biotic interactions of a Gondwanan conifer from Cretaceous Patagonia to modern Malesia

Abstract

Michael Donovan et al. examine well-preserved remains of diverse insect-feeding and fungal damage on Patagonian fossil and extant material of the conifer Agathis. They report a suite of blotch mines, galls, scale-insect covers, and rust fungus that re-occur on the same host genus through time and space, showing the persistence of ecological guilds and possible host-tracking across major plate movements since the late Mesozoic.