The Discovery of a Fossil Beetle in a Coconut Gives Fresh Light on Neotropical Rainforests

As per a Penn State-led group of experts analyzing potential insect damage in a 60-million-year-old fossil, tiny beetles that feed on palm species fruits may have acquired a taste for coconuts long ago.

The coconut rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros, is a pest found in many tropical areas throughout the world.

Adults may wreak havoc on commercially valuable wild and planted palms.

The fossil has a species that feeds on palm species

(Photo : MADAREE TOHLALA/AFP via Getty Images)

They discovered the amazing fossil coconut with apparent traces of insect burrowing, stated L. Alejandro Giraldo, a Penn State geosciences graduate student.

Researchers were able to identify the bug perpetrator after thoroughly examining the damage: a group of beetles known as palm brushes, which still consume a large amount of palm fruit, coconuts included, today.

The discoveries are the earliest fossil evidence of seed beetles feeding on palm fruit, and they reveal important information on the Neotropical rainforests that emerged in modern-day South America having followed the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction 66 million years ago, which wiped out the dinosaurs and reshaped life on Earth, according to the scientists.

Recent research has concentrated on pest infestation to fossil leaves, which are the most frequent plant components found in the fossil record, according to the experts.

Bug damage to fruit and seeds is uncommon, but scientists discovered six probable insect holes in a coconut fossil unearthed in modern-day Colombia.

The fossil featured destruction to the fruit's exterior and inner layers, indicating a three-dimensional trail that shows the holes had a biological origin, such as larvae eating their way through the coconut, according to the experts.

The researchers looked at the number, location, and size of the holes, as well as the scar tissue left behind, to damage produced by current insects, particularly those which eat plants in the palm family.

The destruction was compatible with a subgroup of current beetles known as palm brushes, according to the researchers, who published their findings in the journal Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology.

Giraldo explained that there are a variety of potential species of insects that can feed on seeds, but not all of them eat palm seeds, so that was the place to start.

Following that, it was a lot of detective work, delving into the literature and analyzing various physical features in terms of how this damage happens.

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Most invasive species on coconuts

The coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB) is a big scarab beetle found in Southeast Asia.

It was accidentally brought to Samoa from Sri Lanka in 1909 and is now found across the South Pacific.

The coconut rhinoceros beetle may be attacked by a range of enemies at all stages in life in its natural region, and it is also sensitive to a fungus and a virus that keeps numbers under control.

CRB is one of the most devastating pests of coconut palms and may imperil other species, including Hawaii's only endemic and endangered palm, the Loulu.

Oriental flower beetles have already been present in Hawaii since 2002 and are widely distributed.

The Oriental Flower Insect is the biggest beetle on O'ahu and is sometimes confused with the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle, although there are some subtle differences that can assist to distinguish between of two bugs.