Fern Diversity in the Mid-Cretaceous Amber Forests Revealed by Exceptionally Preserved Sporangium Types  

作　　者：Chunxiang Li Xile Zhou Yiran Wang Chunxiang Li;Xile Zhou;Yiran Wang(Department of Cenozoic Biological Evolution and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China;Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Forest Resources Monitoring Center, Jishou, China;School of Resources and Earth Sciences, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China)

机构地区：[1]Department of Cenozoic Biological Evolution and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China [2]Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Forest Resources Monitoring Center, Jishou, China [3]School of Resources and Earth Sciences, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China

出　　处：《International Journal of Geosciences》2024年第5期351-365,共15页地球科学国际期刊（英文）

摘　　要：The amber deposits from the Albian-Cenomanian in Myanmar have emerged as a pivotal source for exceptionally abundant fossil insect fauna since their initial discovery. Recent studies have increasingly focused on elucidating the fern inventory and examining newly available fossils from Myanmar amber, suggesting a diverse fern flora that once thrived in Cretaceous forests. Through investigations of amber collections, with particular emphasis on sporangium structures—especially the annulus types preserved in amber inclusions—this study revealed additional novelties within the Cyatheales and Schizaeales in mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber forests. The described specimens and newly discovered fossils provide compelling evidence that Polypodiales were not only diverse and abundant but also that other fern lineages, such as Cyatheales and Schizaeales, coexisted in these ancient forest ecosystems. This study reveals the high diversity of ferns in the mid-Cretaceous Myanmar area, while also implying the paleoecological and paleogeographical significance of the Mesozoic Burmese amber forests.The amber deposits from the Albian-Cenomanian in Myanmar have emerged as a pivotal source for exceptionally abundant fossil insect fauna since their initial discovery. Recent studies have increasingly focused on elucidating the fern inventory and examining newly available fossils from Myanmar amber, suggesting a diverse fern flora that once thrived in Cretaceous forests. Through investigations of amber collections, with particular emphasis on sporangium structures—especially the annulus types preserved in amber inclusions—this study revealed additional novelties within the Cyatheales and Schizaeales in mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber forests. The described specimens and newly discovered fossils provide compelling evidence that Polypodiales were not only diverse and abundant but also that other fern lineages, such as Cyatheales and Schizaeales, coexisted in these ancient forest ecosystems. This study reveals the high diversity of ferns in the mid-Cretaceous Myanmar area, while also implying the paleoecological and paleogeographical significance of the Mesozoic Burmese amber forests.

关 键 词：MID-CRETACEOUS Myanmar Amber Polypodiales Cyatheales Schizaeales SPORANGIUM 

分 类 号：X70[环境科学与工程—环境工程]