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The oldest evidence of orchids ever found

Discussion in 'Everything Else Orchid' started by Ricardo, May 4, 2017.

  1. May 4, 2017 #1
    Ricardo

    Ricardo Slave of demanding bird

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  2. May 4, 2017 #2
    Marni

    Marni Well-Known Member Staff Member Supporting Member

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    Very interesting! Thanks for the link.
     
  3. May 4, 2017 #3
    Ricardo

    Ricardo Slave of demanding bird

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    I wish they could have given more information on the pollen mass, the one in the Dominican Republic amber was identified as a type typical of certain terrestrial orchids related to Ponthieva.
     
  4. May 4, 2017 #4
    Fumiaki Takahashi

    Fumiaki Takahashi miniature orchidaholic

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    Interesting!!!
     
  5. May 4, 2017 #5
    Marni

    Marni Well-Known Member Staff Member Supporting Member

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    I was happy to be able to see it.
     
  6. May 4, 2017 #6
    Kipper

    Kipper CoffeeCoffeeCoffee... Supporting Member

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    Excellent, Thanks Ricardo. Too bad they can't pull a 'Jurassic Park' move and remove the dna and use it!
     
  7. May 4, 2017 #7
    Ricardo

    Ricardo Slave of demanding bird

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    Unfortunately, DNA degrades in amber in a relative short time, even on samples as young as 10,000 years old no DNA could be detected.
     
  8. May 5, 2017 #8
    spiro K.

    spiro K. Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Ricardo, fascinating stuff!
     
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  9. May 5, 2017 #9
    naoki

    naoki Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the link, Ricardo! I quickly looked at the original published paper (here), which has better photos. They could eliminate some possibilities, and think that this species (Succinanthera baltica) belongs to subfamily Epidendroideae. The paper mentions that the molecular dating suggests the base of Orchidaceae to be 76-122 Myr old. To put it in perspective, monocots diverged from the rest around 130 Myr ago (Early Cretaceous, just before T. rex), and the origin of angiosperms are around 240 Myr ago (Triassic, beginning of Dinosaur era).
     
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