Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
  • \
    Start Submission Become a Reviewer

    A Monocot Flower, Mirafloris burmitis gen. et sp. nov. (Monocots: Angiospermae), in Burmese Amber

    • George O. Poinar, Jr.


    Abstract

    A six-merous, slightly bisymmetric monocot flower in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber is described as Mirafloris burmitis gen. et sp. nov. The perianth is composed of two whorls of 3+3 distinctly vascularized tepals connected by an irregular network of veinlets.  There are two whorls of 3+3 free stamens with latrorse dehiscence positioned opposite the tepals. A single 3-lobed style arises from the center of the flower. Perigonal nectaries are located at the base of the inner tepals. The oval-spherical pollen possess a single, longitudinal suture.  The fossil shows affinities to the order Liliales and family Liliaceae. This is the first showy monocot flower described from Burmese amber and based on recent phylogenetic studies, may be one of the earliest records of a fossil member of the Liliales.

    Keywords: mid-Cretaceous Flower Monocot Liliales Myanmar
    Section

    References

    1. Bernhardt, P. (2000). Convergent evolution and adaptive radiation of beetle-pollinated angiosperms. Plant Systematics and Evolution, 222, 293-320. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-6306-1_16
    2. Bremer, K. & Janssen, T. (2006). Gondwanan origin of major monocot groups inferred from dispersal-vicariance analysis. Aliso: a journal of systematic and evolutionary Botany, 22, 22-27. https://doi.org/10.5642/aliso.20062201.03
    3. Chambers, K.L. & Poinar, Jr, G.O. (2020). Thymolepis toxandra gen. et sp. nov., a mid-Cretaceous fossil flower with horseshoe-shaped anthers. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 14, 57-64. https://doi.org/10.17348/jbrit.v14.i1.896
    4. Chambers, K.L., Poinar, Jr, G.O., & Buckley, R. (2010). Tropidogyne, a new genus of Early Cretaceous Eudicots (Angiospermae) from Burmese amber. Novon, 20(1), 23-29.
    5. Cruickshank, D., & Ko, K., (2003). Geology of an amber locality in the Hukawng Valley, northern Myanmar. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 21, 441–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1367-9120(02)00044-5
    6. Dahlgren, R.M.T., Clifford, H.T., & Yeo, P. F. (1985). The Families of the Monocotyledons. Springer Verlag, Berlin.
    7. Edlund, A. F., Swanson, R. and Preuss, D. (2004). Pollen and stigma structure and function: the role of diversity in pollination. The Plant Cell, 16, S84-S97. https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.015800
    8. Kim, J.S. & Kim, J-H. 2018. Updated molecular phylogenetic analysis, dating and biogeogrphical history of the lily family (Liliaceae: Liliales). Botanical Journal of Linnean Society, 187(4), 579-593. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boy031
    9. Kubitzki, K. and Huber, H. (eds.) (1998). The families and genera of vascular plants (vol.3). Flowering plants. Monocotyledons: Lilianae (except Orchidaceae). Berlin, Springer-Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-07255-4
    10. Liu, Z-J., Huang, D., Cai, C., & Wang, X. (2018). The core eudicot boom registered in Myanmar amber. Scientific Reports, 8(1),16765. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35100-4
    11. Meyers, S. C., Jaster,T., Mitchell, K. E. and Hardison, L.K. (eds.) (2015). Flora of Oregon (vol.1): Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, and Monocots. Bot. Res. Instit. Texas, Fort Worth.
    12. Poinar Jr., G.O. (2004). Programinis burmitis gen. et sp. nov., and P. laminatus sp. nov., Early Cretaceous grass-like monocots in Burmese amber. Australian Systematic Botany, 17(5), 497-504. https://doi.org/10.1071/SB04002
    13. Poinar Jr., G.O. (2017). A mid-Cretaceous Lauraceae flower, Cascolaurus burmitis gen. et sp. nov., in Myanmar amber. Cretaceous Research, 71, 96-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2016.11.015
    14. Poinar Jr., G. (2018). Burmese amber: evidence of Gondwanan origin and Cretaceous dispersion. Historical Biology, 31, 1304-1309. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2018.1446531
    15. Poinar Jr., G.O., & Chambers, K.L. (2005). Palaeoanthella huangii gen. et sp. nov., an Early Cretaceous flower (Angiospermae) in Burmese amber. Sida, 21(4), 2087─2092.
    16. Poinar Jr., G.O. & Chambers, K.L. (2018). Setitheca lativalva gen. et sp. nov., a fossil flower of Laurales from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 12(2), 643-653.
    17. Poinar Jr., G.O., & Chambers, K.L. (2018). Fossil flowers of Lachnociona camptostylus sp. nov., a second record for the genus in mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 12(2), 655-666.
    18. Poinar Jr., G.O., & Chambers, K.L. (2019). Dispariflora robertae gen. et sp. nov., a mid-Cretaceous flower of possible Lauralean affinity from Myanmar amber. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 13(1), 173-183.
    19. Poinar Jr., G.O., & Chambers, K.L. (2020). Cyathitepala papillosa gen. et sp. nov., a mid-Cretaceous fossil flower from Myanmar amber with valvate anthers. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas,14, 351- 358. https://doi.org/10.17348/jbrit.v14.i2.1013
    20. Poinar Jr., G.O., & Hess, R. (1985). Preservative qualities of recent and fossil resins: Electron micrograph studies on tissue preserved in Baltic amber. Journal of Baltic Studies, 16(3), 222-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/01629778500000141
    21. Poinar, Jr., G.O., Lambert, G.J.B., & Wu, Y. (2007). Araucarian source of fossiliferous Burmese amber: spectroscopic and anatomical evidence Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 1(1), 449-455.
    22. Remizowa, M.V., Sokoloff, D.D., & Rudall, P.J. (2010). Evolutionary history of the monocot flower. Ann. Missouri Bot. Garden, 97, 617-645.
    23. Ross, A.J. (2020). Supplement to the Burmese (Myanmar) amber checklist and bibliography, 2019. Palaeoentomology, 3,103-118. https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.3.1.14
    24. Smets, E.F., Ronse Decraene, L.P., Caris, P., & Rudall, P.J. (2000). Floral nectaries in Monocotyledons: Distribution and Evolution. In Wilson, K.L. & Morrison, D.A. (eds.), Monocots: Systematics and Evolution (pp.230-240). CSIRO, Melbourne.
    25. Xing, L., & Qui, L. (2020). Zircon U–Pb age constraints on the mid-Cretaceous Hkamit amber biota in northern Myanmar. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 558,109960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109960

    How to Cite

    A Monocot Flower, Mirafloris burmitis gen. et sp. nov. (Monocots: Angiospermae), in Burmese Amber. (2021). Biosis: Biological Systems, 2(3), 342-348. https://doi.org/10.37819/biosis.002.03.0126
    ACM ACS APA ABNT Chicago Harvard IEEE MLA Turabian Vancouver AMA
    Download Citation
    Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS) BibTeX

    How to Cite

    A Monocot Flower, Mirafloris burmitis gen. et sp. nov. (Monocots: Angiospermae), in Burmese Amber. (2021). Biosis: Biological Systems, 2(3), 342-348. https://doi.org/10.37819/biosis.002.03.0126

    HTML
    370

    Total
    743

    Share

    Search Panel

    George O. Poinar, Jr.
    Google Scholar
    Pubmed
    JDMFS Journal

    Downloads

    Article Details

    Most Read This Month

    License

    Copyright (c) 2021 Biosis: Biological Systems

    Creative Commons License

    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

    Copyright © 2023 EurAsia Academic Publishing Group. All rights reserved