Phantophlebia dicycla gen. et sp. nov., a five-merous fossil flower in mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17348/jbrit.v14.i1.898Abstract
A fossil flower in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar (Burma) is described as the new genus and species Phantophlebia dicycla. The perianth of the flower is composed of two 5-merous whorls of tepals, the outer tepals being smaller and more irregular in shape than the inner. All the tepals are distinctly vascularized, with few to many major veins that are connected above by an irregular network of veinlets. The flower’s 5 stamens are opposite the inner tepals, with bilocular anthers that dehisce by latrorse, oblique slits. No gynoecium can be seen beneath the air bubble covering the center of the flower. The fossil shares some characteristics with myrsinoid members of family Primulaceae.
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