Ancient fossil beans about the size of modern limes, and among the largest seeds in the fossil record, may provide new insight into the evolution of today's diverse Southeast Asian and Australian rainforests, according to researchers who identified the plants.
Ancient fossil beans about the size of modern limes, and among the largest seeds in the fossil record, may provide new insight into the evolution of today's diverse Southeast Asian and Australian rainforests, according to researchers who identified the plants.
"These fossil seeds suggest that the ancient relatives of Castanospermum migrated into Australia from Southeast Asia during the tectonic collision event and later went extinct in Asia," said Edward Spagnuolo, a doctoral student in the Department of Geosciences at Penn State and lead author of the study.
The collection included three large beans, pollen samples and about 40 leaves. Along with plants, the team also discovered diverse fossilized bird tracks, burrowing traces of marine invertebrates and fossil turtle remains, among other fossils recently published or under continued study. The fossil seeds were named Jantungspermum gunnellii. The genus name refers to the heart shape of the fossil -- jantung means heart in Indonesian and spermum means seed in Latin. The species name honors the late Gregg Gunnell, a vertebrate paleontologist formerly of the Duke University Lemur Center, who led the field trip.
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