Evidence of arthropod-plant interactions from the Smolyanynivka Formation (upper Bashkirian, Lower Pennsylvanian) of the Donets Basin, Ukraine

 

Authors: Dernov V

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 101, issue 2; pages: 229 - 246; Received 5 November 2025; Accepted in revised form 17 February 2026; Online 28 June 2026

Keywords: plant biodamages, insects, myriapods, mites, Carboniferous, feeding, galling, oviposition,

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Abstract

Eleven damage types of terrestrial plants are described from the upper Bashkirian Smolyanynivka Formation of the Donets Basin (Frunze Mine locality in the southern part of Luhansk Oblast, eastern Ukraine). Of these eleven damage types, seven are margin feeding (DTs 12-15, 26, 142, ?143), one represents surface feeding (DT97), one oviposition (DT72), and two galling (DTs 122, 145). The diversity of arthropod-plant interaction evidence from the Smolyanynivka Formation is roughly comparable to that recorded from the adjacent Lower Pennsylvanian formations of the Donets Basin. The most likely producers of the studied arthropod-plant interaction evidence are insects, myriapods, and oribatid mites.

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