Fossil of Ancient Carnivorous Flypaper Trap Plant Discovered in Amber

Posted on December 5, 2014

Researchers have discovered the fossil of a carnivorous flypaper trap plant in a piece of Baltic amber. The fossil leaves were discovered by researchers from the Universities of Gottingen and Bielefeld and the Botanical State Collection of Munich. The amber was found in a Russian mine and is estimate to be between 35 and 47 million years old.

This amber fossil is a very important find. It is the best fossil evidence of an ancient carnivorous plant discovered to date. The researchers say previous fossil evidence of ancient carnivorous plants consists of only seeds and pollen.

The fossilized flypaper trap plant leaves are covered with glandular hairs. These hairs could have been used by the ancient plant to capture prey. Modern Roridula species use their sticky hairs to catch insects. Digestion is then a complex process with nutrient uptake to the plant being dependent on heteropteran insects.

PhD student Eva-Maria Sadowski at the University of Gottingen says in a statement, "The most striking features are the long-stalked multicellular glands, which are also called tentacles, covering the lower leaf surface and the margins of the leaf fossils."

It was originally believed that Roridula originated about 90 million years ago in Africa and evolved in isolation after the breakup of the southern continent Gondwana. Professor Alexander Schmidt from the from the University of Gottinger, the leader of the study, says in a statement, "The new fossils from Baltic amber show that the ancestors of Roridula plants occurred in the northern hemisphere until 35 million years ago, and that they were not restricted to South Africa."

A research paper on the carnivorous leaves in the Baltic amber can be found here in PNAS.

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AMBER