Huang Weijia, Liu Wenzhe, Wang Xin
Blue Miracle Museum Science Research Studio, Guangzhou, 510000, China.
Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education), School of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, 710069, China.
Heliyon. 2024 Nov 28;10(23):e40794. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e40794. eCollection 2024 Dec 15.
Parasitic plants left little trace in the macrofossil record, making their evolutionary history mysterious. Baltic amber and other fossil lagerstätts have provided plenty of angiosperm fossils, there are only three reports of fossil leaves (cf. and sp. 1) related to Schoepfiaceae until now, making many hypotheses related to its evolution untested. Here we report a fossil corolla and stamens of a probable schoepfiaceous flower (Schoepfiaceae, Santalales) from late Eocene (37.8-33.9 Ma ago) of Kaliningrad, Russia. Unlike previously reported flowers, the new fossil is characterized by its five fused petals bearing adnate stamens. This character assemblage points to an affinity of Schoepfiaceae. This is the debut of schoepfiaceous flower in the macrofossil record, shedding a new light on the evolution of this poorly understood family. Its unexpected occurrence in Russia adds information to the discussion on the history of Schoepfiaceae.
寄生植物在宏观化石记录中留下的痕迹很少，这使得它们的进化史充满神秘色彩。波罗的海琥珀和其他化石库提供了大量被子植物化石，到目前为止，与铁青树科相关的化石叶仅有三份报告（参见 和 物种1），这使得许多与其进化相关的假说无法得到验证。在此，我们报告了一种可能属于铁青树科花朵（铁青树科，檀香目）的化石花冠和雄蕊，该化石来自俄罗斯加里宁格勒晚始新世（距今3780 - 3390万年前）。与之前报道的花朵不同，新化石的特征是其五片合生花瓣上着生有贴生雄蕊。这种特征组合表明它与铁青树科具有亲缘关系。这是铁青树科花朵在宏观化石记录中的首次亮相，为这个了解甚少的科的进化提供了新的线索。它在俄罗斯的意外出现为关于铁青树科历史的讨论增添了新信息。
