Ancient Ephemeroptera-Collembola symbiosis fossilized in amber predicts contemporary phoretic associations

PLoS One. 2012;7(10):e47651. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047651. Epub 2012 Oct 17.

Abstract

X-ray computed tomography is used to identify a unique example of fossilized phoresy in 16 million-year-old Miocene Dominican amber involving a springtail being transported by a mayfly. It represents the first evidence (fossil or extant) of phoresy in adult Ephemeroptera and only the second record in Collembola (the first is also preserved in amber). This is the first record of Collembola using winged insects for dispersal. This fossil predicts the occurrence of similar behaviour in living springtails and helps explain the global distribution of Collembola today.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amber*
  • Animals
  • Arthropods / physiology*
  • Fossils*
  • Insecta / physiology*
  • Symbiosis / physiology*

Substances

  • Amber

Grants and funding

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council are acknowledged for funding the Manchester X-Ray Imaging Facility at the University of Manchester. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.