Fossil Araceae from a Paleocene neotropical rainforest in Colombia

Both the fossil record and molecular data support a long evolutionary history for the Araceae. Although the family is diverse in tropical America today, most araceous fossils, however, have been recorded from middle and high latitudes. Here, we report fossil leaves of Araceae from the middle-late Pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of botany 2008-12, Vol.95 (12), p.1569-1583
Main Authors: Herrera, Fabiany A, Jaramillo, Carlos A, Dilcher, David L, Wing, Scott L, Gomez-N., Carolina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angiosperms
Anthurium
Araceae
Botanical gardens
Coal
Colombia
Evolutionary biology
Flora
Fossils
Genera
Leaves
monocotyledons
Montrichardia
Paleobotany
Paleocene
Plants
Pollen
Rainforests
Species diversity
systematics
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Summary:Both the fossil record and molecular data support a long evolutionary history for the Araceae. Although the family is diverse in tropical America today, most araceous fossils, however, have been recorded from middle and high latitudes. Here, we report fossil leaves of Araceae from the middle-late Paleocene of northern Colombia, and review fossil araceous pollen grains from the same interval. Two of the fossil leaf species are placed in the new fossil morphogenus Petrocardium Herrera, Jaramillo, Dilcher, Wing et Gomez-N gen. nov.; these fossils are very similar in leaf morphology to extant Anthurium; however, their relationship to the genus is still unresolved. A third fossil leaf type from Cerrejón is recognized as a species of the extant genus Montrichardia, the first fossil record for this genus. These fossils inhabited a coastal rainforest ~60-58 million years ago with broadly similar habitat preferences to modern Araceae.
ISSN:0002-9122
1537-2197
DOI:10.3732/ajb.0800172