A new study published recently has the detailed discovery of ancient plant fossils, specifically two fossil winged fruits from the Ceratopetalum, formerly believed to be limited in range during the Cretaceous period to the Southern Hemisphere.
According to a report by EurekAlert! a new description of well-preserved ancient fossil specimens of plants in Washington state has prompted paleobotanists to rethink how plants might have been spread during the Late Cretaceous, specifically between 66 and 100 million years ago.
Nonetheless, these new fossils were discovered on Sucia Island in Washington. The shocking find has caused paleobotanists to reexamine how extended their range may have been and how it may have taken place.
According to Keana Tang, the study's lead author and doctoral student in ecology and evolution biology at the University of Kansas and the KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, in this research, they were looking at two fossil fruits they had assigned to the "genus Ceratopetalum," which is in the flowering-plant family Cunoniaceae.
Tang added, the family Cunoniaceae and the genus Ceratopetalum still have members alive today. What's interesting, continued the lead author, is that the genus Ceratopetalum presently only exists in Australia.
ALSO READ: Scientists Unearth Fossils of Ancient Burrowing Mammal-Like Animals
Fossils of fish, leaves, and grass that date back to about 2.5 million years were found by paleontologists in Chalatenango, 64 km north of El Salvador's capital.
The New 'Ceratopetalum Suciensis' Fossil Species
The whole family is restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, explained Tang, and thus, it is strange to discover such a fossil up in the Northern Hemisphere. The researchers wondered how such a fossil got there.
Tang, together with her collaborators, named the new fossil species "Ceratopetalum suciensis" after the Washinton island, where they were discovered.
Modern editions of the genus Ceratopetalum succeed in Australia's wet tropical rainforests, where they play a vital role in ecosystems. The lead author elaborated that one would find forests dominated by such species.
In their study published in the New Phytologist journal, she also explained that the findings are made more substantial since Ceratopetalum, and larger family Cunoniaceae belong to PARLS or "Paleo-Antarctic Rainforest Lineages." These are plants believed to have originated from the prehistoric Gondwanan landmass before spreading towards the north.
Paleo-Antarctic Rainforest Lineages
Therefore, a better insight into how Ceratopetalum, described in the Australian National Herbarium site, extended its range could better inform researchers how a key a larger plan group widened its range through geologic time.
The fossil species have a joint background where they were possibly around Antarctica and spread towards the north as time developed and tectonic plates changed, resulting in climate change.
As Antarctica gets colder, such pants move up to South America, South Africa, and Australia," according to Tang. She added it is interesting since PARLS are all expected to originate from the south.
Brian Atkinson, the KU adviser and co-author of Tang, also an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and curator with the Biodiversity Institute's Division of Paleobotany, said that the findings emphasize new probabilities for a biotic exchange between South America-Antarctica and North America that may have taken place during Late Cretaceous.
Report about the new ancient plant fossil discovery is shown on The RealMLordandGod's YouTube video below:
RELATED ARTICLE: Fossil Of The Oldest Predecessor Of Buckthorn Flower Discovered In Argentina
Check out more news and information on Evolutionary Biology in Science Times.
