Damselflies (Coenagrionidae) have been avoiding leaf veins during oviposition for at least 52 million years

Eugenia Romero-Lebrón; Marcos Fernández-Monescillo; Natalia Matushkina; Xavier Delclòs; Raquel M Gleiser

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106865

Damselflies (Coenagrionidae) have been avoiding leaf veins during oviposition for at least 52 million years

iScience. 2023 May 12;26(6):106865. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106865. eCollection 2023 Jun 16.

Authors

Eugenia Romero-Lebrón^{1

2}, Marcos Fernández-Monescillo^{2

3}, Natalia Matushkina⁴, Xavier Delclòs^{5

6}, Raquel M Gleiser^{1

2

7}

Affiliations

¹ Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC) - CONICET. IMBIV: Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Centro de Relevamiento y Evaluación de Recursos Agrícolas y Naturales (CREAN). Av. Valparaíso s/n, Córdoba 5016, Argentina.
² Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
³ Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Cátedra y Museo de Paleontología, Vélez Sarsfield 1611, Córdoba X5016GCA, Argentina.
⁴ Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Volodymyrska, 64/13, 01601 Kyiv, Ukraine.
⁵ Departament de Dinàmica de la Terra iel Oceà, Facultat de Ciències de la Terra, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franquès s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
⁶ Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat. Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
⁷ Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Departamento de Diversidad Biológica y Ecología. Av. Vélez Sársfield 299, Córdoba 5000, Argentina.

Abstract

Plant-insect interactions can provide extremely valuable information for reconstructing the oviposition behavior. We have studied about 1350 endophytic egg traces of coenagrionid damselflies (Odonata: Zygoptera) from the Eocene, identifying triangular or drop-shaped scars associated with them. This study aims to determine the origin of these scars. Our behavioral study of about 1,800 endophytic eggs from recent coenagrionids indicates that these scars were caused by ovipositor incisions, but without egg insertion. The scar correlates (χ2-test) with leaf veins in both fossil and extant species. We infer that a female would detect the proximity of a leaf vein and avoid egg-laying, generating a scar that also fossilizes. For the first time, a scar produced by the ovipositor has been identified, indicating the existence of undesirable areas for oviposition. Accordingly, we recognize that Coenagrionidae damselflies (narrow-winged damselflies or pond damselflies) have been avoiding leaf veins for at least 52 million years.

Keywords: Entomology; Evolutionary biology; Paleobiology.