Unraveling Ancient Insect Secrets: Fossil Discovery Illuminates Behavior and Evolution

A 312-million-year-old fossil has provided new insights into the behavior and evolution of ancient insects. The fossil, found on a Carboniferous seed-fern leaf, represents the earliest evidence of internal feeding within a leaf, known as leaf mining. This discovery pushes back the estimated origin of leaf mining by 70 million years and sheds light on the behavior of larvae, which are rarely preserved in the fossil record. The exceptional preservation of the fossil also reveals patterns consistent with modern leaf mining behavior, suggesting that full metamorphosis, known as holometabolism, existed during this time period.