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Figure 2 in The largest amber-preserved flower revisited
No full textFigure 2. Details of Symplocos kowalewskii comb. nov. et emend. (Symplocaceae; X4088) from late Eocene Baltic amber. (a) Anther. (b) Basally fused and broadened filaments, arranged in three rows and forming a fused ring. (c) Underside of the fused staminate ring with trichomes (arrowhead). (d) Simple, long, acute trichome (right arrowhead), magnified from (c); lef arrowhead indicates fungal hyphae. Scale bars 200 µm in (a), (b), (d); 1 mm in (c).Published as part of Sadowski, Eva-Maria & Hofmann, Christa-Charlotte, 2023, Scientific Reports 13 (1) on page 17, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24549-z, http://zenodo.org/record/753548
Synchrotron X-rayimaging of a dichasium cupule of Castanopsis from Eocene Baltic amber
No full textThe partial female inflorescence reported here provides an important addition to acorns of Castanopsis described from middle Eocene strata of Europe. Furthermore, the intercontinental distribution of Castanopsis in the Eocene is confirmed. The amber fossil also broadens the picture of the Baltic amber source area, indicating oligotrophic, sandy, bog-like habitats. Finally, this study underscores the great benefit of SRμCT as a powerful tool to investigate plant inclusions from amber in a nondestructive way
Staminate inflorescences with in situ pollen from Eocene Baltic amber reveal high diversity in Fagaceae (oak family)
No full textEocene Baltic amber forms the largest amber deposit worldwide; however, its source vegetation and climateare much debated. Representatives of the oak family (Fagaceae) were abundant in the Baltic amber source areabased on numerous inclusions of staminate inflorescences or individual florets, previously assigned to Castanea andQuercus. However, the actual generic and infrageneric diversity of Fagaceae from Baltic amber remained unknown.Using flower characteristics and section-diagnostic in situ pollen of staminate inflorescences and detached floret inclusions,we describe 18 fossil-species of Fagaceae making this family by far the most diverse plant family preservedin Baltic amber. We substantiate the occurrence of the Castaneoideae, Quercoideae (Quercus sect. Cyclobalanopsis/ Lobatae; Q. sect. Lobatae; Q. sect. Protobalanus), Trigonobalanoideae and the extinct genus Eotrigonobalanus.Among the 18 fossil-species, six are described as new: Q. aimeeana, Q. casparyi, Q. multipilosa, E. campanulata,E. conwentzii, E. longianthera; and one new combination is published: Q. brachyandra (≡ Castanea brachyandra).In addition, a lectotype is designated for the name Quercites meyerianus and neotypes are designated for the namesCastanea inclusa and Quercus longistaminea (≡ C. longistaminea). Members of the Fagaceae probably inhabitedazonal and zonal vegetation types of the amber source area, including bottomland flood-plains and stream banks(Q. sect. Lobatae), dry habitats (Q. sect. Lobatae, Q. sect. Protobalanus), peaty soils, riparian and swamp forests(Castanopsis, Eotrigonobalanus), as well as mixed mesophytic forests (castaneoids, Quercoideae, trigonobalanoids).Affinities to extant North American and E to SE Asian floras support the recent notion that late Eocene Baltic amber(38 – 34 Ma) was formed in a warm-temperate climate.</p
Figure 3 in The largest amber-preserved flower revisited
No full textFigure 3. Pollen extracted from anthers and the surrounding amber of Symplocos kowalewskii comb. nov. et emend. (Symplocaceae; X4088) from late Eocene Baltic amber. (a) Anther, releasing pollen. (b‒g) Pollen under LM; note the protrusions from the apertures (c), which were likely caused by the excreted internal cell content. (h) Pollen under electron microprobe, with exposed intine (arrowhead). (i,j) Pollen under electron microprobe, showing perforate to microreticulate ornamentation with few supratectal blunt echini. Note the fused verrucae at the margo of the ectoaperture, forming a rim-like structure (j). Scale bars 500 µm in (a); 50 µm in (b); 20 µm in (c–g); 10 µm in (h), 1 µm in (i,j).Published as part of Sadowski, Eva-Maria & Hofmann, Christa-Charlotte, 2023, Scientific Reports 13 (1) on page 17, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24549-z, http://zenodo.org/record/753548
Species-level determination of closely related araucarian resins using FTIR spectroscopy and its implications for the provenance of New Zealand amber
Full text linkSome higher plants, both angiosperms and gymnosperms, can produce resins and some of these resins can polymerize and fossilize to form ambers. Various physical and chemical techniques have been used to identify and profile different plant resins and have then been applied to fossilized resins (ambers), to try to detect their parent plant affinities and understand the process of polymerization, with varying levels of success. Here we focus on resins produced from today’s most resinous conifer family, the Araucariaceae, which are thought to be the parent plants of some of the Southern Hemisphere’s fossil resin deposits. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of the resins of closely related Araucariaceae species were examined to test whether they could be distinguished at genus and species level and whether the results could then be used to infer the parent plant of a New Zealand amber. The resin FTIR spectra are distinguishable from each other, and the three Araucaria species sampled produced similar FTIR spectra, to which Wollemia resin is most similar. Interspecific variability of the FTIR spectra is greatest in the three Agathis species tested. The New Zealand amber sample is similar in key shared features with the resin samples, but it does differ from the extant resin samples in key distinguishing features, nonetheless it is most similar to the resin of Agathis australis in this dataset. However on comparison with previously published FTIR spectra of similar aged amber and older (Eocene) resinites both found in coals from New Zealand and fresh Agathis australis resin, our amber has some features that imply a relatively immature resin, which was not expected from an amber of the Miocene age
Placing Nothophylica piloburmensis from Cretaceous amber into the angiosperm phylogeny
No full textAbstract Recently, we redescribed an amber inclusion from mid‐Cretaceous Kachin amber of Myanmar, previously assigned to the extant genus Phylica in Rhamnaceae (core eudicots), and placed it in a new fossil‐genus, Nothophylica . Based on our reconstructions, we identified new floral features and instead suggested affinities within magnoliids, especially Laurales. Using parsimony phylogenetic analyses, we here substantiate that Nothophylica piloburmensis does not possess any affinities with eudicots but shares unequivocal similarities with Laurales. Our results place Nothophylica sister to Lauraceae and Hernandiaceae
The enigmatic hyphomycete Torula sensu Caspary revisited
No full textAbout 130 years ago Robert Caspary described fossil fungi resembling the extant anamorphic genus Torula Persoon (Ascomycota,Pezizomycotina) from two pieces of Eocene Baltic amber. Despite being among the earliest fungi recognized from amber, these microfossils have received virtually no attention for the past 100 years. Our recent findings of similar fungal inclusions from Baltic and Bitterfeld amber have revealed that these fungi constituted an abundant, but poorly understood component of these Paleogene amber forests. Here we elucidate the morphology and growth mode of these enigmatic fungi and show that they are clearly distinguished from the moniliform hyphae of capnodialean sooty moulds (Ascomycota, Capnodiales), that they also do not correspond with the extant genus Torula, and cannot with confidence be assigned to any extant genus of dematiaceous hyphomycetes. The life cycle of the fungi involved transitions from vegetative hyphae to conidial states producing non-randomly disarticulating chains of multi-cellular phragmoconidia. We provide an emended description of these fungi and suggest a new fossil genus Casparyotorula that comprises three anamorphic species, Casparyotorula globulifera (Caspary) comb. nov., Casparyotoruia heteromorpha (Caspary) comb. nov., and Caspcnyotorula arnoldii sp. nov. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Novel three-dimensional reconstructions of presumed Phylica (Rhamnaceae) from Cretaceous amber suggest Lauralean affinities
No full textSciadopitys cladodes from Eocene Baltic amber
No full textThe Baltic amber deposit represents the largest accumulation of any fossil resin worldwide and hundreds of thousands of entrapped arthropods have been recovered so far. The source plants of Baltic amber, however, are still controversial, and the botanical composition of the Baltic amber forest' remains poorly studied. Here, we provide the first unequivocal Baltic amber inclusions of the umbrella pine Sciadopitys (Sciadopityaceae), a genus that has been suggested as the source of succinite (the main variety of Baltic amber) based on chemical analyses. As previously suggested sciadopitoid inclusions must be reconsidered as being notional, representing angiosperm leaves instead, the new fossils are the first unambiguous macrofossil evidence of Sciadopitys from the Baltic amber forest', and the first pre-Oligocene macrofossil record of Sciadopitys from Europe. The fossil Sciadopitys cladodes provide new insights into the conifer diversity of the Baltic amber forest' and broaden the picture of its palaeoecology, indicating the presence of humid swamp to raised bog habitats. (c) 2015 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2016, 180, 258-268
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