Strange Fossilized Fruit Turns Out To Be Oldest Known One From Family of Myrrh, Frankincense

In the early 1970s, paleontologists found fossilized fruits in the middle of hardened rocks from one of history's largest volcanic eruptions. It has now been discovered that this odd fruit is actually the oldest fossil from the Myrrh and Frankincense family.

Odd Fruit Fossil Found

Back then, the paleontologists were working on an Indian village's outskirts when they discovered tiny fossils similar to beads that were embedded within gray chert that dotted over the fields that surrounded it.

This site was known to be a wellspring of plant fossils that were hard to identify. This includes the extinct fruit species that was recently identified as "Enigmocarpon." Interestingly, in the next decades, more of these species were found across India. However, scientists found it difficult to know which plant type it was part of.

Myrrh and Frankincense Family

Researchers now think that they have unraveled this mystery. With CT scanning technology, Steven Manchester, who serves as the paleobotany curator from the Florida Museum of Natural History, made 3D reconstructions of the first and succeeding odd fossil specimens.

Manchester then showed his development to a colleague, who observed that the five triangular seeds had something odd. More specifically, Manchester's colleague noted that the seeds were not actually seeds.

Pyrenes are dispersal pods that are woody and that offer an extra protection layer to seeds. Examples of pyrenes include the hard stones in the centers of peaches, cherries, pistachios, and dates. These stop the seeds from being digested as the fruit is consumed.

It takes intricate scrutiny to be able to distinguish a seed from a pyrene. This is especially the case when they are roughly snowflake-sized. Traditional paleobotany approaches have been seen to be insufficient.

Manchester explains that if the specimens were fractured at the right plane, recognition could have been possible for the paleobotanists. However, with the specimen on hand, Manchester was not able to do so.

There are only a few groups of plants that are pyrene-producing. This gets narrowed down even further when it comes to fruits that have five seeds in a pentagram arrangement.

By following the process of elimination, Manchester and Judd were able to identify that the fossils were part of an extinct Burseraceae species, which is from the Frankincense family. Flower, fruit, leaf, and wood fossils from this plant family have been discovered in other areas in India. These were typically sandwiched between thick basalt slabs that were made by one of history's largest volcanic eruptions.

Manchester explains that the fossils were preserved during the quiet times in between eruptions. Lakes and ponds that were formed on the lava flows that were relatively fresh, as well as vegetation, were washed into them and covered with sediment.

The volcano that was responsible for the devastation exhibited activity right before and after an asteroid impact that ended the Cretaceous and may have affected the succeeding contributions.

Most Frankincense family fossils have been found in rocks that postdate the impact. However, the original fruit specimens found in the 70s became fossilized before the event took place. This makes them the oldest fossils of the Burseraceae that have ever been discovered.

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