Evidence of predatory marks on fossil leaf remains provides a unique window into ecological and evolutionary associations of the past, but finding both damage and the phytophagous insects causing that damage pattern in the same fossil specimen is a very rare phenomenon. Normally, caterpillars have little fossilization potential because of their delicate structure, but here, we present the first fossil evidence of leaf-feeding caterpillars, along with their characteristic feeding patterns, on the surface of diverse angiosperm leaf remains recovered from the latest Neogene (Pliocene, Rajdanda Formation) sediments of Chotanagpur Plateau, eastern India. This provides a rare direct insight into past plant-insect interaction, allowing us to identify, with confidence, the relationship between leaf damage and the perpetrator. The present finding also reveals that caterpillar-plant relationships and their feeding strategies seen today also existed during the Pliocene.

中文翻译：

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印度食叶毛虫的第一个化石证据及其摄食策略

化石叶片残骸上的捕食痕迹的证据为了解过去的生态和进化关联提供了一个独特的窗口，但在同一化石标本中发现损害和导致这种损害模式的植食性昆虫是非常罕见的现象。通常，毛虫由于其精致的结构而几乎没有形成化石的潜力，但在这里，我们在从最新的新近纪（上新世）恢复的各种被子植物叶片表面上展示了以叶为食的毛虫的第一个化石证据，以及它们特有的摄食模式。 , Rajdanda 组) 印度东部 Chotanagpur 高原的沉积物。这提供了对过去植物与昆虫相互作用的罕见直接洞察，使我们能够自信地识别叶片损伤与肇事者之间的关系。