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Evidence of leaf-cutting bee damage from the Republic sites (middle Eocene) of Washington

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Standley E. Lewis*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota 56301

Extract

Several authors (Berry, 1916, 1931; Brooks, 1955; Cockerell, 1908, 1910) have reported evidence of damage by leaf-cutter bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) from the Tertiary of the United States. These have been predominantly Eocene in age. During field investigations (1990-1991), four further fossil plant specimens with possible leaf-cutter bee damage were discovered from the middle Eocene sediments of the Klondike Mountain Formation near Republic (Ferry County), Washington (Figure 1), and are reported here to draw attention to the common occurrence of these kinds of insect “trace fossils” in the paleobotanical record.

Type
Paleontological Notes
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

Berry, E. W. 1916. The Lower Eocene floras of southeastern North America. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 91, 469 p.Google Scholar
Berry, E. W. 1931. An insect-cut leaf from the Lower Eocene. American Journal of Science, 21:301304.Google Scholar
Brooks, H. K. 1955. Healed wounds and galls on fossil leaves from the Wilcox deposits (Eocene) of western Tennessee. Psyche, 62:19.Google Scholar
Cockerell, T. D. A. 1908. A fossil leaf-cutting bee (Megachile praedicta, Florissant, Colorado). Canadian Entomologist, 40:3132.Google Scholar
Cockerell, T. D. A. 1910. A Tertiary leaf-cutting bee. Nature, 82:429.Google Scholar