Rather than feeding, the animal uses specialized structures, such as an ovipositor or piercing mouthparts, to place eggs in locations that will provide protection and suitable food for the developing larvae. The position, arrangement, and depth of egg placement vary widely among groups. Most oviposition behaviors preserved in the fossil record belong to a type known as endophytic oviposition, in which eggs are laid within plant tissues. Many hemipterans, such as leafhoppers, and some dragonflies use a sharp ovipositor to insert eggs into the tissues of leaves or stems, leaving small slit-like scars. In certain damselflies and some true bugs, elongate incisions may be arranged in rows along veins or stems. In addition, some beetles and sawflies embed their eggs just beneath the epidermis, sometimes producing small swellings in the plant tissue. Fossil leaves indeed preserve such evidence: rows of evenly spaced punctures or isolated circular scars interpreted as oviposition marks have been documented. The spatial arrangement of these traces (scattered, densely clustered, or aligned along veins) reflects differences in reproductive strategy and egg-laying behavior among insect lineages. In the Functional Feeding Group (FFG) framework, oviposition is treated separately from feeding damage, as it represents a distinct behavioral interaction between insects and plants.