Spiny fruits revealed by nano-CT scanning:
Pseudoanacardium peruvianum (Berry) gen.
et comb. nov. from the early Oligocene
Belén flora of Peru
1 | Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, P.O. Box 117800, Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A |
2 | University of Nevada, Department of Geological Sciences & Engineering, 1664 N. Virginia Street,
Reno, NV 89557-0172, U.S.A. |
Online publication date: 2018-06-19
Publication date: 2018-06-19
Acta Palaeobotanica 2018; 58(1): 41–48
ABSTRACT
Fossil fruits formerly described as cashews from the Oligocene of Peru are reinvestigated based
on the original specimens and newly collected materials. The recovery of an outer spiny layer, preserved in the
sedimentary molds surrounding the locule casts, indicates that these disseminules do not represent Anacardium.
Imagery from nano-CT scans of the specimens documents a distinctive morphology which does not resemble any
fruits or seeds of Anacardiaceae. We describe the morphology in more detail and reassign the fossils to an extinct
genus, Pseudoanacardium gen. nov., of uncertain familial affinity. Pseudoanacardium peruvianum (Berry) comb.
nov. was a prominent member of the Belén carpoflora, which also included palms plus Annonaceae, Euphorbiaceae,
Humiriaceae, Leeaceae, Icacinaceae, Rutaceae and Vitaceae.