Insect egg sets on angiosperm leaves from the Lower Cretaceous of Negev, Israel

Egg set impressions on fossil leaves, a new field of palaeontological research, links insect palaeoecology with that of the host plant. Zygopteran egg sets from the Albian of Makhtesh Ramon, central Negev, Israel, were deposited on narrow leaves of an angiospermous Acaciaephyllum-like morphotype. Their pattern resembles the extant and Tertiary “Coenagrionid Type”, attesting to evolutionary conservatism of this oviposition mode since the time of early angiosperms. A comparison with the Palaeozoic–Jurassic proto-Odonata egg sets suggests a change in oviposition modes in several steps that can be related to the evolution of wetlands. The Albian remains are among the earliest of a modern aspect supposedly related to the advent of angiosperms. A wetland source community has been previously suggested for Acaciaephyllum-like leaves on taphonomic grounds, and the finding of damselfly egg sets provides additional evidence in favour of such a habitat, thus having a bearing on the palaeoecology of Early Cretaceous angiosperms.