Scientists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) discovered in Chiapas a species of tree that produced the resin that gave rise to Mexican amber, the only semi-precious stone of plant origin.
According to the team of researchers, the tree, which lived more than 23 million years ago, was identified from glands along the leaf blade, known as “leaflets,” which can be seen against the light.
The researcher at the UNAM Paleobotany Laboratory, Ana Lilia Hernández Damián, argued that “the discovery of this plant in pieces of amber suggests that this group of plants spread throughout the low latitudes of North America during the Miocene.”
And amber portrays plant history, since it is the fossilized resin of plants, so it can become trapped in leaves, flowers and stems.
The research in which Hernández collaborates was presented in the Paleoworld magazine based on an article that explains what they identified in the preserved leaves after their analysis in the Paleobotany laboratory.
“A series of seven pieces recovered in the La Quinta area, better known as the Simojovel Formation, were studied in detail, which contained remains of insects and flowers, as well as well-preserved leaves,” the document stated.
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From this study, it was also observed that there are several living relatives such as guapinol, a tree that grows along the Pacific coast of Mexico, in addition to Guibourtia and Peltogyne, which due to the similarity of the leaves have the ability to synthesize, store and secrete resin.
The doctor highlighted that on the planet there are more than “200 locations of resin deposits, but only 25 have remains of organisms that grew in the past”, in that sense, she said, that Mexico is a unique place to analyze the origin of this semi-precious stone of great transparency and brilliance.
In the case of the leaves of this tree, he highlighted that its most particular characteristics are its “leaflets with asymmetrical bases, brochidodromous secondary veins and translucent glandular points.”
In addition to being an object of fascination for jewelers, amber is also a fossil that has been used by paleontologists to study the ancient world, and in Mexico since pre-Hispanic times it was valued for making ornaments and carrying out commercial exchanges.
With information from EFE.
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