Amber fossil reveals ancient reproduction in flowering plants

Author: Oregon State University 

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140103204510.htm 

Date of Publication: January 3, 2014
By: Francesca Sajedi

Summary: 

       A 100-million-year old piece of amber was found in the amber mines in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar. This piece of amber had the oldest evidence of a flowering plant. The fossil had 18 tiny flowers on it. When researchers and scientists looked at the fossil under a microscope they saw the pollen tubes coming out of two grains of pollen into the flower’s stigma. This gave them the insight on how early flowering plants reproduced. With this fossil they can see that the reproductive system of today’s angiosperms is identical to the reproductive system of the angiosperms found in the fossil. Scientists and researchers were surprised that the fossil was fossilized so fast. They knew it fossilized fast because they could see the pollen tubes. The pollen seemed to be sticky which means that an insect carried the pollen. The fossils gave scientists and researchers insight on the biodiversity of the mid-Cretaceous era. They knew that ferns, mosses, mammals, conifers, birds, and flowering plants were beginning to appear, but dinosaurs were still dominant. This led them to believe that some insects lived at this time. They genius and species name for this new flower is Micropetasos burmensis. This was an exciting new discovery because it told us about a time period a long time ago.

Relevance:

      This article relates to our plant unit because it is about a new discovery of a flowering plant. Also it gives us more insight on when flowering plants started to appear. With this fossil the scientists and researchers could see the pollen tubes and the stigma. This also relates to what we are doing because we are looking at the life cycle of different plants. This article said that the reproduction system of today’s flowering plants is identical to the one found in the fossil. It connects to past units because it gave them insight on the biodiversity back then and how they name new findings. They knew that the evolution of flowering plants lead to greater biodiversity, so they now know that this diversity must of happened earlier than they thought.  They gave the new flower the name of Micropetasos burmensis. Micropetasos being the genius and burmensis being the species. The fossil also connects back to dating fossils. They figured out that this fossil was 100 million years old. Most probably by radiometric dating.