European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference 2026

Emsian fossil assemblages from Laurentia have yielded evidence for anti-herbivore defenses: secretory capitate glands and other glandular emergences (trichomes), spinescent emergences (spines, hereafter) with sclerified cortex and specialized morphology and wound response periderm for piercing-sucking and putative surface feeding wounds. Circumstantial evidence from the Emsian includes...

Leaf mining is a specialized feeding strategy in which insect larvae inhabit and feed on the internal tissues of leaves. This strategy not only improves feeding efficiency but also provides natural protection against environmental stressors. For host plants, leaf mining can lead to increased water and nutrient loss and reduced photosynthetic efficiency. In response to these threats, plants...

A distinctive seed type is present in the stomach of two species of mammal and one unidentified small trogon-like bird from the late early to early middle Eocene oil shale (Cenozoic, Paleogene) of Messel, Germany. The bird contains several more or less intact seeds. Amongst the mammals two species of the rodent Masillamys contain numerous seed coat fragments. As revealed by SEM the surfaces...

The Gratkorn pit, comprising late Middle Miocene sediments and fossils, is well known for its diverse terrestrial vertebrate fauna. Vertebrate fossils and associated coprolites are found in a paleosol at the base of the pit, which is part of the Gratkorn Fm and is of late Serravallian age (c. 12.2 Ma). The paleosol is overlain by limnic sediments of the Gleisdorf Fm. Until now, paleoecological...