Insect herbivory on Catula gettyi gen. et sp. nov. (Lauraceae) from the Kaiparowits Formation (Late Cretaceous, Utah, USA).

ABSTRACT: The Upper Cretaceous (Campanian Stage) Kaiparowits Formation of southern Utah, USA, preserves abundant plant, invertebrate, and vertebrate fossil taxa. Taken together, these fossils indicate that the ecosystems preserved in the Kaiparowits Formation were characterized by high biodiversity. Hundreds of vertebrate and invertebrate species and over 80 plant morphotypes are recognized from the formation, but insects and their associations with plants are largely undocumented. Here, we describe a new fossil leaf taxon, Catula gettyi gen et. sp. nov. in the family Lauraceae from the Kaiparowits Formation. Catula gettyi occurs at numerous localities in this deposit that represent ponded and distal floodplain environments. The type locality for C. gettyi has yielded 1,564 fossil leaf specimens of

SUBMITTER: Maccracken SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8782542 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature