University of Coimbra
The new specimens were collected in a fossil deposit located near Seadouro, Vagos.
A discovery by researchers from the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) revealed flowering plants approximately 87 million years old.
Researchers are Mario Miguel Mendes e Pedro Miguel Callapez; both discovered new fruits of angiospermic (flowering plants) in flora from the Late Cretaceous of Portugal.
The new specimens were collected in a fossil deposit located near the small town of Seadouro, Vagos.
«The specimens from Seadouro are very well preserved and although it is not possible to extract much information about the floral organs, in addition to the gynoecium, they present traces of possible stem filaments and tepals. Furthermore, and more importantly, in the stigmatic area there are pollen grains from the Normapolles groupallowing the new angiosperms to be included in the order Fagales and attributed, without any doubt, to the genus Endressianthus», details researcher Mário Miguel Mendes.
The statement sent to ZAP explains that the new fruits are being described as a new species of the genus Endressianthus, but their position within the family continues to be uncertain.
But the researchers emphasize that these discoveries have narrow similarities with members of Fagales attributable to the family Betulaceae – where there are important orchard plants such as common hazel (Corylus avellana) and Turkish hazel (Corylus colurna).
«I believe that X-ray tomography studies using synchrotron radiation and comparison with elements of modern flora will allow us to obtain more precise information and, perhaps, bring us closer to the family», continued Mário Miguel Mendes.
The presence of fruits of angiosperms of the genus Endressianthus had already been reported in the Upper Cretaceous of Portugal, specifically, in the Campanian – Maastrichtian of Mira and Esgueira (Aveiro).
But the species differs from the previously described forms and was identified in flora from the upper Coniacian, explicitly expressing that this group of angiosperms was already found well established in the floras of the Portuguese Late Cretaceous around 87 million years ago.
The occurrence of pollen grains from the Normapolles group has been documented in several sporo-pollen associations in Europe, from the Turonian to the Eocene.
The morphology of these pollen grains and their abundance in Upper Cretaceous palynofloras points to the occurrence of anemophilic pollination in these plants, that is, pollination carried out by the action of the wind.
Mário Miguel Mendes also comments that there is paleobotanical evidence that suggests that these angiospermic they were common in arid or semi-arid ecosystems of the Late Cretaceous.
“And, interestingly, the new angiosperms from the Portuguese upper Coniacian were identified in association with numerous frenelopsid fragments attributable to Frenelopsis oligostomata – indicators of xeromorphic conditions”, he analyzes.
