Using modern technology allows extracting more information from plant fossils
Using modern technology allows extracting more information from plant fossils
PUBLICATION — McLoughlin, S., Halamski, A.T., Mays, C. & Kvaček, J. 2021. Neutron tomography, fluorescence and transmitted light microscopy reveal new insect damage, fungi and plant organ associations in the Late Cretaceous floras of Sweden. GFF.
The object of the paper is to show how using modern technology (neutron tomography, fluorescence) allows extracting more information from Late Cretaceous plant fossils from Sweden compared to classical methods. Neutron tomography allowed preparing a 3-D visualisation of a fossil cone of the conifer Fricia nathorstii even if the major part of the cone is embedded in a large piece of hard sandstone. The newly described Meliolinites scanicus is the oldest known (and the first pre-Cenozoic) representative of the fungal order Meliolales (division Ascomycota, class Sordariomycetes).
