An extraordinary discovery in the Peruvian Andes is astonishing the scientific community. An international team of researchers has announced the discovery of a new species of fossil fern, named Polystichum espinarensis, in Espinar province, Cusco region, southeastern Peru.
It detailed that the scientific research was led by Angelica Aliaga-Castillo from the Vertebrate Paleontology Department at the aforementioned museum, and by Blanca Leon from the Department of Bryology and Pteridology (MHN-UNMSM).
The Natural History Museum explained that the fossil was collected in 2013 in Espinar district, at an altitude of 3,913 meters above sea level.
It belongs to the Descanso Formation and dates to the early Pliocene (approximately between 3.9 and 4.8 million years ago).
At that time, the region already formed part of the Central Andean Plateau (CAP), the second highest worldwide.
The study used advanced phylogenetic analyses to place the fossil within the fern family tree. The main findings indicate that the fossil belongs to a specific group of Andean ferns known as “clade III” of exindusiate Polystichum.
The Natural History Museum indicated that the presence of this species in the Pliocene suggests that the diversification of these ferns was driven by the rapid uplift of the Andes millions of years ago.
After analyzing previous findings, researchers concluded that other earlier records (such as P. bolivianum) lacked sufficient evidence, leaving P. espinarensis as the only solid representative of the genus in the fossil record.
Lastly, it stressed that this discovery is key to understanding how extreme geological changes in South America shaped the biodiversity observed today.
The study fills a critical gap in the evolutionary history of plants in tropical mountain regions, which are globally significant centers of biodiversity.
(END) NDP/MAO/MVB