An edible fruit from the Jurassic of China |
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Institution: | 1. Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Orchid Conservation and Utilization, National Orchid Conservation Center of China and Orchid Conservation & Research Center of Shenzhen, Shenzhen 518114, China;2. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origin of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China;3. State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China;4. Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China |
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Abstract: | Frugivory is an important ecological tie between animals and angiosperms. It plays an important role in the evolution of food webs and energy flow networks in the ecosystem. However, little is known about how old this relationship can be due to lack of relevant fossil evidence. Here, the authors report a fossil fruit, Jurafructus gen. nov., a putative angiosperm from the Middle–Late Jurassic (>164 Ma) of Daohugou Village, Inner Mongolia, China, which provides the currently earliest evidence of frugivory. The fossil is a more or less three-dimensionally preserved coalified drupe that has been damaged by animals in two different ways. The pericarp, in addition to the seed coat surrounding parenchyma seed contents, is suggestive of an angiospermous affinity, as such a 3+3 structure is distinct from a three-layered seed coat in gymnosperms. The seed possesses a distal micropyle, attached on the base of the pericarp, suggestive of a former orthotropous ovule in the gynoecium. The damaged pericarp of Jurafructus suggests that frugivory can be dated back to the Middle–Late Jurassic. Apparently, the ecological relationship between angiosperms and animals extends deep into the fossil record. |
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Keywords: | Jurassic Angiosperm Evolution Animals Frugivory Fruit China |
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