Grammitis succinea, the First New World Fern Found in Amber

Abstract

Although Dominican ambers are known for their arthropod fauna, no systematic examination has ever been attempted of the plants they contain, even though plant remains usually are well preserved in ambers (Czeczott, 1960). Non-vascular cryptogams (mosses and lichens) also are commonly preserved, but apparently only two vascular cryptogams have ever been reported, both ferns from Baltic ambers Magdefra World found in amber.There are several deposits of amber in Central and South America, but the most famous New World deposits are at Simojovel, Chiapas, Mexico, and in the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. The latter, considered like the Chiapas deposits to be late Oligocene in age, has been known since Columbus reported on it in the account of his second voyage to the West Indies (Langenheim, 1964). Dominican amber contains many well preserved arthropods and some fragmentary, little-studied plant materials. This has led to extensive exploitation of these fossil resins, which are sold as elaborate jewelry or in bulk, but almost always without precise data as to their location on the island.The plants from which the Dominican amber originated was for many years unknown. Sanderson and Farr (1960) suggested Piiuis as a possible source because ot the strong, turpentine-like odor obtained from freshly sawed or filed amber.Recently, Langenheim (pers. comm.