A long-stemmed bloom of a recently discovered plant species, along with a parasitic wasp, were discovered in a 30-million-year-old tomb thanks to fossil study conducted by Oregon State University.
Everybody has their own method of interpreting visual information in the natural world, according to George Poinar Jr. of the OSU College of Science, based on interests, background, and the current surroundings. "As a result, an organism can be identified, given a name in science, and then placed in a taxonomic hierarchy. The same creature can be considered an artwork and even categorised under a certain artistic movement."
The research by Poinar, which was published in Historical Biology, provides the first description of a fossilised Euphorbiaceae flower found in amber. This particular amber comes from the Dominican Republic, which produces some of the purest fossilised tree resin in the entire globe.
The Euphorbiaceae family, popularly known as the spurge family, has 1,800 species and 105 of its 300 genera are found in the tropics of the Americas.
Members of this family's fossilised flowers are extremely uncommon, according to Poinar. Only one previously discovered fossil, from sedimentary strata in Tennessee, could I find.
The poinsettia, castor oil plant, and rubber tree are a few examples of plants that belong to this family. While certain species are useful as sources of wax or oil, many species of members include a milky latex.
The new flower was given the name Plukenetia minimum by Poinar, a world authority on exploiting plant and animal life forms preserved in amber to understand the biology and ecology of the distant past. Additionally, it is the earliest fossil record of the genus Plukenetia on the Hispaniolan island, which is home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The adult female flower, according to Poinar, is notable for its modest size and long stalk, which has four separate capsules at the terminal.
In a different publication that was published in 2020 in Biosis: Biological Systems, Poinar described the wasp, Hambletonia dominicana, as a novel species. It is a species of wasp known as an encyrtid, which preys on a variety of insects.
The flower in the current study has already bloomed and has four mature seed capsules or pods. A fly larva is growing in one of the pods.
According to Poinar, it happens frequently that unrelated organisms are accidentally entombed together in amber. However, I believe that in this instance the wasp was drawn to the bloom either to collect nectar or in an effort to lay an egg on the capsule containing the fly larva.
According to Poinar, the wasp egg would eventually hatch, enter the pod, and consume the fly larva, allowing the wasp to survive in the ecological niche made possible by the Plukenetia plant's foliage and flower heads.
Both of the fossils have connections to two 20th-century movements in fine art, design, and architecture, according to Poinar. "The Art Nouveau style, which highlights graceful curves and flowing lines, is represented by the "petite" flower. The "dancing" wasp embodies the Art Deco design aesthetic, which emphasises geometric ornamentation and sharp edges."
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