Eophyllium
Name:
Eophyllium
(Dawn phyllium).
Phonetic: E-oh-fil-le-um.
Named By: S. Wedmann, S. Bradler &
J. Rust - 2007.
Classification: Arthropoda, Insecta,
Phasmatodea, Phyllioidea, Phylliidae.
Species: E. messelensis
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Body length about 6 centimetres long
(not including antenna).
Known locations: Germany - Messel Formation.
Time period: Lutetian? of the Eocene.
Fossil representation: Single almost complete
specimen preserved flat in dorsal profile. Tips of legs, antennae
and wings missing.
Eophyllium
is a genus of leaf insect that is known to have lived in Europe,
specifically Germany, during the Eocene. The holotype specimen is
preserved flat on a slab of sedimentary rock and has allowed for a very
interesting insight into how leaf insects evolved. Eophyllium
differs from modern forms in that the fore legs are not adapted to look
like leafs, meaning that Eophyllium would not
have been able to
hides its head from view like modern forms. However, anyone who has
kept stick insects as pets can tell you that the legs probably would
have been held tight against the head when not feeding to give the
impression of a twig, or stub of a branch.
The
main body of Eophyllium was still leaf shaped,
and in addition to
this, other fossils from the Messel Pit of Germany which have leaves
preserved within in them show that Eophyllium would
have been a near
identical match for the leaves of most of the plants at the time that
it lived. This also likely gives an indication as to what plants
Eophyllium may have preferred to eat, given that
these kinds of
insects usually adapt to blend in with the plants that they feed on
since this is where they spend most of their time.
Studies
if the reproductive organs of Eophyllium also show
that these organs
have not really changed in over forty million years. This may well
indicate that the leaf insect design was perfected early on and that
changes in body shape and pattern were driven more about changing plant
forms and the need to blend in with them.
Further reading
- The first fossil leaf insect: 47 million years of specialized
cryptic morphology and behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences 104(2):565-569. - S. Wedmann, S. Bradler
& J. Rust - 2007.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random favourites
 |
 |
 |
 |