Ancient flowers dating back to 100 million years ago, saved from time in an amber shell. A discovery that left Oregon State University scientists speechless. An ancient flower, dating back to the era of the dinosaurs
Ancient flowers dating back to 100 million years ago, saved from time in an amber shell. A discovery that left Oregon State University scientists speechless. A flower dating back to the dinosaur era.
Researchers from the College of Science found it and dated it, according to whom it is the first time seven fiori full dating back to 100 million years ago are identified through a single study.
It is fiori very small, whose diameter ranges from 3,4 to 5 millimeters. For this they have been studied through a microscope. Discovered in Myanmar, the flowers were unknowingly moved or carried by a Triceratops or by Tyrannosaurus rex running through the jungle.
George Poinar, professor emeritus at Oregon State University's College of Science, and his collaborator Kenton Chambers, renamed the flower with the name Tropidogyne pentaptera, based on the shape of the vegetable, characterized by five separate petals.
“Amber has preserved the floral parts so well that they look like they have just been picked from the garden. The dinosaurs may have bumped into the branches which in turn dropped the flowers in resin deposits on the bark of an araucaria tree " explains the professor. Poinar.
The latter then produced the resin that fossilized the flowers in amber. These trees produce a special weather resistant resin.
Flowers are part of the family of Cunoniaceae, which is found in Australia and Papua-New Guinea. Researchers believe the flowers were wrapped in amber before the supercontinent Gondwana is broken. This explains how a species found in Myanmar could be related to the flowers they grow in today Australia.
It is not the first time amber gives us unexpected surprises. It also happened last year when one was found dinosaur tail, or again, recently, a little bird dating back to 100 million years ago.
Francesca Mancuso
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