Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

An asterid flower from neotropical mid-Tertiary amber

Abstract

Fossils preserved in amber may provide significant palaeoevolutionary and biogeographical data regarding the evolution of life on Earth1. Although amber is particularly noted for its detailed preservation of arthropods, the same degree of preservation can be found for vascular plant remains2. Mid-Tertiary Dominican amber is a rich source for such fossils, and representatives of several angiosperm families have been described. However, no fossilized examples of the large asterid plant clade have yet been reported. Here we describe the first fossil neotropical flowers found in amber from a representative of the asterids. The asterids are one of the largest lineages of flowering plants, containing groups such as the sunflower, potato, coffee and mint families, totalling over 80,000 species3. The new fossils are only known as flowers, more precisely corollas with stamens and styles. We here describe them as a new species, Strychnos electri sp. nov, in the plant family Loganiaceae (Gentianales).

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Strychnos electri sp. nov. holotype Sd-9-47A in Dominican amber.
Figure 2: Strychnos electri sp. nov. in Dominican amber.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Poinar, Jr, G. O. 1992. Life in Amber (Stanford Univ. Press, 1992).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Poinar, Jr, G. O. & Poinar, R. The Amber Forest (Princeton Univ. Press, 1999).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Stevens, P. F. Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (2001–2015); http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/orders/ranunculalesweb.htm#Eudicots

  4. Struwe, L. in Flowering Plants of the Neotropics (eds Smith, N. et al.) 219–221 (Princeton Univ. Press, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Frasier, C. L. Evolution and systematics of the angiosperm order Gentianales with an in-depth focus on Loganiaceae and its species-rich and toxic genus Strychnos PhD thesis, Rutgers Univ. (2008).

  6. Krukoff, B. A. American species of Strychnos. Lloydia 35, 193–271 (1972).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Leeuwenberg, A. J. M. The Loganiaceae of Africa. VIII. Strychnos III. Meded. Landb. Hogesch. Wageningen 69, 1–19 (1980).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Iturralde-Vinent, M. A. & MacPhee, R. D. E. Age and paleogeographic origin of Dominican amber. Science 273, 1850–1852 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Schlee, D. Das Bernstein-Kabinett. Stuttg. Beitr. Naturkd. 28, 1–100 (1990).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Magallón, S., Gómez-Acevedo, S., Sánchez-Reyes, L. L. & Hernández-Hernández, T. A metacalibrated time-tree documents the early rise of flowering plant phylogenetic diversity. New Phytol. 207, 437–453 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Wikström, N., Kainulainen, K., Razafimandimbison, S. G., Smedmark, J. E. & Bremer, B. A revised time tree of the Asterids: establishing a temporal framework for evolutionary studies of the coffee family (Rubiaceae). PLoS ONE 10, e0126690 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Liogier, A. H. La Flora de la Española Vol. 5 (San Pedro de Macorís, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Poinar, Jr, G. O. Hymenaea protera sp. n. (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) from Dominican amber has African affinities. Experientia 47, 1075–1082 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants APG III. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 161, 105–121 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Merckx, V. S. et al. Phylogenetic relationships of the mycoheterotrophic genus Voyria and the implications for the biogeographic history of Gentianaceae. Am. J. Botany 100, 712–721 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Olmstead, R. G. Phylogeny and biogeography in Solanaceae, Verbenaceae and Bignoniaceae: a comparison of continental and intercontinental diversification patterns. Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 171, 80–102 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Chaney, R. W. & Sanborn, E. I. The Goshen Flora of West Central Oregon Vol. 439, 1–237 (Carnegie Inst. Washington Publ., 1933).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Wood, B. L. The Geology of the Gore Subdivision Vol. 53, 1–128 (New Zealand Geol. Survey Bull., 1956).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors graciously thank K. Gandhi of Harvard University for help with Latin nomenclature and D. Bhattacharya of Rutgers University for comments on an earlier version of this article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

G.O.P. provided the data and analysis of the amber fossils (measurements and morphological data), all photographs except the extant Strychnos species and was the primary author for the palaeontological parts of the manuscript. L.S. provided data, photo and text regarding extant taxa in the Gentianales and other asterids, evaluation of asterid dating times and was the primary author of the new species description.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to George O. Poinar Jr or Lena Struwe.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Poinar, G., Struwe, L. An asterid flower from neotropical mid-Tertiary amber. Nature Plants 2, 16005 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2016.5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2016.5

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing