Article: Classopollis in the guts of Jurassic insects
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume:
40
Part:
4
Publication Date:
November
1997
Page(s):
1095
–
1101
Author(s):
Valentin A. Krassilov, Vladimir V. Zherikhin and Alexander P. Rasnitsyn
Abstract
The gut contents of two specimens of fossil insects from the Upper Jurassic of the Karatau Range, Kazakhstan include clumps of Classopollis pollen grains. The insects are assigned to different species of Aboilus (Hagloidea, Ensifera, Orthoptera) resembling the larger extant grasshoppers. The pollen grains show the conventional Classopollis external features, columellate-regulate infrastructure and exinal filaments of the proximal Y-mark as well as a microporous membrane of the distal pore-like structure. Pollinivory may explain excessive Classopollis pollen production, while the intricate harmomegathic structures are compatible with the pollen transfer being by large, short distance fliers.