Evidence of Arthropod–Plant Interactions Through the Permian in Brazil

Arthropods and land plants are the major macroscopic groups on the planet, being the plant–herbivore food web, an important component of terrestrial biodiversity. Arthropods can interact in several ways with plants, using them as a shelter, a reproduction environment, or food. Herbivory is the most common interaction trace in the fossil record because plants produce a reaction tissue that stays conspicuously preserved. The Gondwana Permian flora has a vast literature about taxonomy, ecology, and biogeography. However, the knowledge about insects is not complete, just a few studies exist about Permian insects from Gondwana. The study of phytophagy in the Brazilian fossil record has been growing since the last decade. All the functional feeding groups related to arthropods are recorded in the Brazilian “Glossopteris Flora,” showing that the Permian flora was eaten similarly to the patterns we can see today, even with the insect diversity not being as high as nowadays. The Brazilian Paleozoic insect fauna is composed of a meager number of specimens and taxa compared to other late Paleozoic deposits worldwide, showing a total of 25 species from nine different orders. All the Brazilian insect specimens were retrieved uniquely from Paraná Basin deposits, as the insect-plant interaction fossil record shows the potential to explore other Brazilian Permian basins.