Paleontologists have identified a new genus and species of whiteflies and a psyllid from fossils found in Miocene-period crater lake sediments at Hindon Maar near Dunedin in Otago, South Island of New Zealand.
A close-up of two tiny puparia of Miotetraleurodes novaezelandiae attached to an angiosperm leaf. Image credit: Drohojowska et al., doi: 10.1007/s12549-024-00628-z.
Adult whiteflies are tiny insects about 3 mm in size, smaller if they are immature.
The fossils found at Hindon Maar are about 1.5 mm by 1.25 mm and have been preserved attached to the underside of a fossil leaf.
Black with an oval-shaped body, they have some similarities to modern-day whiteflies — such as the shape and color — but differ in that all the segments of the body are distinctly defined by deep sutures.
“Fossils of adult whitefly insects are not uncommon, but it takes extraordinary circumstances for the puparia — the protective shell the insect emerges from — to become fossilized,” said Dr. Uwe Kaulfuss, a paleontologist at the University of Göttingen and former postdoctoral researcher at the University of Otago.
“Some 15 million years ago, the leaf with the puparia must have become detached from a tree, blown into the small lake and sank to the deep lake floor to be covered by sediment and become fossilized.”
“It must have happened in rapid succession as the tiny insect fossils are exquisitely preserved.”
“The new genus and species described in our study, Miotetraleurodes novaezelandiae, reveals for the first time that whitefly insects were an ecological component in ancient forests on the South Island.”
“It was difficult to see much with the naked eye but once the fossils were under a microscope, we could see the amazing detail,” said University of Otago’s Emeritus Professor Daphne Lee.
“The fact that they are still in life position on the leaf is incredible and extremely rare.”
“These little fossils are the first of their kind to be found in New Zealand and only the third example of such fossil puparia known globally.”
“New discoveries such as these from fossil sites in Otago mean we’ve gone from knowing almost nothing about the role played by insects to a new appreciation of their importance in understanding New Zealand’s past biodiversity and the history of our forest ecosystems.”
“While most people are interested in big fossils — large charismatic ones — most animals in forests are insects.”
“There are 14,000 insects in New Zealand and 90% are found nowhere else in the world.”
“Discovery of these minute fossils tells us this group of insects has been in Aotearoa New Zealand for at least 15 million years.”
“This provides a well-dated calibration point for molecular phylogenetic studies.”
The study was published in the journal Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments.
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J. Drohojowska et al. First Miocene whiteflies and psyllids (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Aleyrodoidea and Psylloidea) from Aotearoa New Zealand. Palaeobio Palaeoenv, published online October 1, 2024; doi: 10.1007/s12549-024-00628-z
