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. 2015 Jan 6;112(1):190-5.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1414777111. Epub 2014 Dec 1.

Carnivorous leaves from Baltic amber

Eva-Maria Sadowski  1 , Leyla J Seyfullah  1 , Friederike Sadowski  2 , Andreas Fleischmann  3 , Hermann Behling  4 , Alexander R Schmidt  5
Affiliations

Carnivorous leaves from Baltic amber

Eva-Maria Sadowski et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

The fossil record of carnivorous plants is very scarce and macrofossil evidence has been restricted to seeds of the extant aquatic genus Aldrovanda of the Droseraceae family. No case of carnivorous plant traps has so far been reported from the fossil record. Here, we present two angiosperm leaves enclosed in a piece of Eocene Baltic amber that share relevant morphological features with extant Roridulaceae, a carnivorous plant family that is today endemic to the Cape flora of South Africa. Modern Roridula species are unique among carnivorous plants as they digest prey in a complex mutualistic association in which the prey-derived nutrient uptake depends on heteropteran insects. As in extant Roridula, the fossil leaves possess two types of plant trichomes, including unicellular hairs and five size classes of multicellular stalked glands (or tentacles) with an apical pore. The apices of the narrow and perfectly tapered fossil leaves end in a single tentacle, as in both modern Roridula species. The glandular hairs of the fossils are restricted to the leaf margins and to the abaxial lamina, as in extant Roridula gorgonias. Our discovery supports current molecular age estimates for Roridulaceae and suggests a wide Eocene distribution of roridulid plants.

Keywords: Eocene; Ericales; Roridulaceae; plant carnivory.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Carnivorous leaves from Eocene Baltic amber. (A) Overview of the leaf enclosed in amber specimen GZG.BST.27310 showing the adaxial tentacle-free side in slightly oblique view and stalked glands at the margin and on the abaxial side; arrowhead points to the exceptional long tentacle stalk with several branched oak trichomes attached. (B) Overview of the leaf enclosed in amber specimen GZG.BST.27311, showing abundant tentacles on the abaxial side. (C) Margin of abaxial leaf surface with tentacles of different size classes and nonglandular hyaline trichomes. (D) Leaf apex tapering into a sole tentacle. (E and F) Glandular heads with central pore (arrowheads) from both leaves. (Scale bars: A and B, 1 mm; C and D, 100 µm; E, 10 μm; F, 40 μm.)
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Morphological comparison of the carnivorous leaf fossils from Baltic amber (Left) and extant Roridula species (Right). (A and B) Leaf tip ending in a sole tentacle. (C and D) Stalked glands of different size classes. (E and F) Hyaline unicellular nonglandular trichomes. (G and H) Epidermal cells and stomata. (I–L) Multicellular tentacles. (A, C, E, and G) GZG.BST.27310. (I and J) GZG.BST.27311. (B, D, K, and L) R. gorgonias. (F and H) R. dentata. (Scale bars: A–D, 100 µm; E–L, 50 µm.)
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Carnivorous leaf from Eocene Baltic amber (A and B; GZG.BST.27310) and leaves of extant Roridula gorgonias (C and D). (A) Exceptionally long tentacle stalk (with several branched oak trichomes attached) of the fossil leaf representing the fifth size class of stalked glands. (B and C) Overviews showing the tentacle-free adaxial surface and tentacles along the leaf margins. (D) Partial leaf tip showing different size classes of stalked glands. (Scale bars: A, 100 µm; B, 500 µm; C and D, 1 mm.)
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Tentacle size classes of the fossil leaves and extant Roridula gorgonias based on the results of the cluster analyses and the tentacle stalk length. (A) Size classes of the fossil leaves, including the outlier which we interpret to represent size class 5. (B) Size classes of Roridula gorgonias. n indicates the number of tentacles per size class.
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Comment in

  • New evidence on the origin of carnivorous plants.
    Givnish TJ. Givnish TJ. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Jan 6;112(1):10-1. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1422278112. Epub 2014 Dec 23. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015. PMID: 25538295 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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