A fern fossil that inhabited Antarctica during the era of the dinosaurs was discovered by scientists, reported the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH).
Escuderia livingstonensis It is the first permineralized Schizaeales fossil described for the White Continent. Its discovery allows us to reconstruct part of the evolutionary history of ferns and reveals an Antarctic covered with vegetation during the Cretaceous.
Paleobiologist Marcelo Leppe Cartes, an academic at the GEMA Center-Universidad Mayor, highlighted that the discovery constitutes a key piece to understand the evolution of vascular plants at high latitudes. “It is the first permineralized fossil of Schizaeales described for Antarctica, with a finely preserved anatomy that allows it to be compared with living species and lays the foundation for phylogenetic analyzes integrating fossils and molecular data,” explained the researcher.
Credit: INACH
The study was developed by an international team made up of researchers from Japan and Chile, and is based on material collected at Williams Point, Livingston Island (South Shetland Islands), during the Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ECA 48) organized by the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH) in 2011, within the framework of the Fondecyt Projects “Palaeophytogeographical and evolutionary relationships between southern Patagonia and Antarctic Peninsula floras during the Cretaceous” and Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Kakenhi) from Japan (No. 24570112)
Specialists from Chuo University, Patagon Institute of Palaeobotany, Centro GEMA-Universidad Mayor, Osaka Metropolitan University and Shizuoka University participated in the publication, within the framework of the Fondecyt and Kakenhi projects (Japan).
A tribute to Chilean Antarctic science
Table of Contents
The new genus was named Escuderia in honor of Julio Escudero Guzmán, a Chilean jurist linked to the Antarctic Treaty and the figure who gives name to the main scientific base of INACH.
The epithet livingstonensis refers to its place of origin, Livingston Island.
“The authors wanted to recognize the Escudero base and its people, scientists and logisticians, who make the deployment of research in remote areas of Antarctica possible,” explained Leppe.
Credit: INACH
Unique traits and evolutionary significance
The fossil presents a sympodial branching of the fertile axis, sporangia with basilateral attachment on coiled lamellar segments and Ischyosporites-type spores. This set of characters does not match any known living or fossil genus.
The analysis was possible thanks to a methodology that combined serial peels, 3D reconstruction and high-resolution microscopy, achieving an exceptional level of detail.
For Leppe, these fossils offer essential information for evolutionary biology: “Permineralized fossils provide key anatomical information to test phylogenetic hypotheses. This material initiates the ‘holophylogenetic’ reconstruction of Schizaeales by integrating anatomical characteristics and spores in their original context.”
A green and biodiverse Antarctica
The finding reinforces the hypothesis that Antarctica was a center of diversification of ferns and vascular plants during the Cretaceous, and not a marginal area as believed.
In the same paleosol where Escuderia livingstonensis was found, other associated fossils are preserved, such as gymnospermic ovulated organs, shoots and leaves of conifers (Araucariales) and roots with mycorrhizal nodules, which allow the reconstruction of a terrestrial ecosystem of great complexity.
Next steps
The research team has already developed a 3D reconstruction of the fossil and is preparing new comparative analyzes with specimens from Japan and southern South America.
“The reanalysis of rocks collected using non-destructive technologies, such as X-ray tomography, will allow us to discover more evidence of a time when Antarctica was green and full of vegetation, whose descendants still live in southern Patagonia,” Leppe concluded.
INACH is a technical organization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with full autonomy in everything related to Antarctic matters of a scientific, technological and dissemination nature. INACH complies with the National Antarctic Policy by encouraging the development of excellent research, participating effectively in the Antarctic Treaty System and related forums, strengthening Magallanes as a gateway to the White Continent and carrying out actions to disseminate Antarctic knowledge to citizens. INACH organizes the National Antarctic Science Program (PROCIEN).
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