Departamento de Zoología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas-Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Prolongación de Carpio y Plan de Ayala s/n, 11340,, Ciudad de México, Mexico.
Museo Paleontológico de Múzquiz, Adolfo E. Romo 1701, La Cascada, 26343,, Santa Rosa de Múzquiz, Coahuila, Mexico.
Commun Biol. 2021 Jan 14;4(1):41. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01533-9.
Fabaceae is one of the most diverse angiosperm families and is distributed across the globe in a variety of environments. The earliest evidence of the family, previous to this work, was from Paleogene sediments where it was found to be diverse in many fossil assemblages around the world. Here, we describe a fossil legume fruit from the Olmos Formation (upper Campanian) in northern Mexico. We designated the fossil fruit as Leguminocarpum olmensis Centeno-González, Martínez-Cabrera, Porras-Múzquiz et Estrada-Ruiz sp. nov., and related it with the Fabaceae family based on the presence of a dehiscent pod with two valves, an apex bearing stylar base, short stipe, and reticulated veins in the pericarp. We propose a new fossil species of Leguminocarpum for this fossil fruit. This fossil provides critical information on the long geologic history of Leguminosae around the world, significantly extending the record into the Cretaceous of Mexico.
豆科是被子植物中最多样化的科之一，分布在全球各种环境中。在这项工作之前，该科最早的证据来自古近纪沉积物，在世界各地的许多化石组合中都发现了多样化的化石。在这里，我们描述了来自墨西哥北部 Olmos 组（上坎潘期）的一种豆科果实化石。我们将该果实化石命名为 Leguminocarpum olmensis Centeno-González、Martínez-Cabrera、Porras-Múzquiz 和 Estrada-Ruiz sp. nov.，并根据开裂的荚果有两个裂片、顶端有花柱基部、短柄和果皮中的网状脉的特征，将其与豆科联系起来。我们为这个果实化石提出了一个新的 Leguminocarpum 化石种。这个化石为世界各地豆科植物的悠久地质历史提供了关键信息，将其记录显著扩展到了墨西哥的白垩纪。
