Evol Ecol Res 4: 779-786 (2002)     Full PDF if your library subscribes.

Touch-sensitive glandular trichomes: a mode of defence against herbivorous arthropods in the Carboniferous

M. Krings,1,2* T.N. Taylor2 and D.W. Kellogg2

1Forschungsstelle für Paläobotanik am Geologisch-Paläontologischen Institut, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Hindenburgplatz 57, D-48143 Münster, Germany and 2Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-7534, USA

Address all correspondence to Michael Krings, Forschungsstelle für Paläobotanik am Geologisch-Paläontologischen Institut, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Hindenburgplatz 57, D-48143 Münster, Germany.
e-mail: krings@uni-muenster.de

ABSTRACT

We present evidence that the capitate glandular trichomes of Blanzyopteris praedentata, a lianescent seed fern from the Upper Carboniferous of France, possessed a specialized, touch-sensitive mechanism that triggered the opening of the secretory cell by contact. The trichomes are interpreted as functionally similar to those of some modern flowering plants, which release a sticky exudate when touched and ruptured that functions to disable plant-feeding arthropods.

Keywords: defence mechanism, glandular trichome, herbivory, seed fern, Upper Carboniferous.

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