Oldest orchid fossil found
Orchid pollinia enclosed in an “anther cap” attached to a leg of fungus gnat found in Baltic amber is described by George Poinar Jr., Oregon State university, and orchid specialist Finn N. Rasmussen, Natural History Museum of Denmark.
Despite being the largest family of flowering plants with more than 25000 species only very few fossils of Orchidaceae have been described, and unambiguous finds have first appeared in the last decade. Orchids distribute their pollen in masses called pollinia which become attached to animal visitors (typically insects); often by means of very complicated mechanisms that has fascinated biologists since Charles Darwin.
Embedded in amber
Orchid pollinia attached to insect pollinators embedded in amber are exceptional sources of information about orchids from the past but may not always be recognized by collectors and insect specialists. The first orchid pollinia in Caribbean amber (15-20 Million years) were described in 2007 and was used to calibrate a ‘molecular clock’, suggesting a minimum age of the family of 76 Ma, later pushed back to 112 Ma by more refined analyses. This is 47 Ma before the end of the Cretaceous epoch and the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs.
The present find, described as Succinanthera baltica, is from the time where the largest subfamily of orchids (the Epidendroideae with most of the extant species) is supposed to have begun to differentiate into the many subgroups of mainly tropical orchids known today.
The tiny pollinia, still encased in the wall of the detached anther, a phenomenon known as ‘anther cap retention’ are somewhat damaged suggesting a soft fragile structure as seen in present day basal epidendroid orchids.
They are attached with strings of viscid material to a hind leg of a darkwinged fungus gnat (Bradysia sp.), a very old genus which also today pollinate small orchids by capturing pollinia on the legs.
Not easily recognized
The object carried by the fossil gnat may not be easily recognized as part of an orchid flower by non-orchid specialists so it may be assumed that more fossils of this kind eventually may turn up, perhaps even older.
Amber collectors and insect paleontologists are urged to contact specialists in orchid morphology if they find inexplicable structures attached to fossil insects!
Read More in Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
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Contact
Finn N. Rasmussen
Emeritus
Natural History Museum of Denmark
University of Copenhagen
Phone: +45 35 32 22 07
E-mail: finnR@snm.ku.dk
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