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Fossilized cashew nuts reveal Europe was important route between Africa and South America
Eureka Alert ^ | October 17, 2007 | Unknown

Posted on 10/17/2007 11:53:45 AM PDT by decimon

Cashew nut fossils have been identified in 47-million year old lake sediment in Germany, revealing that the cashew genus Anacardium was once distributed in Europe, remote from its modern “native” distribution in Central and South America. It was previously proposed that Anacardium and its African sister genus, Fegimanra, diverged from their common ancestor when the landmasses of Africa and South America separated. However, groundbreaking new data in the October issue of the International Journal of Plant Sciences indicate that Europe may be an important biogeographic link between Africa and the New World.

“The occurrence of cashews in both Europe and tropical America suggests that they were distributed in both North America and Europe during the Tertiary and spread across the North Atlantic landbridge that linked North America and Europe by way of Greenland before the rifting and divergence of these landmasses,” explain Steven R. Manchester (University of Florida), Volker Wilde (Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Sektion Palaeobotanik, Frankfurt am Main, Germany), and Margaret E. Collinson (Royal Holloway University of London, UK). “They apparently became extinct in northern latitudes with climatic cooling near the end of the Tertiary and Quaternary but were able to survive at more southerly latitudes.”

The cashew family (Anacardiaceae) includes trees, shrubs, and climbers prominent in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates around the world. A key feature is an enlarged hypocarp, or fleshy enlargement of the fruit stalk, which is a specialized structure known only in the cashew family.

The researchers examined possible fossil remains found in the Messel oil shales, near Darmstadt, Germany, which are dated to about 47 million years before the present and reveal the presence of a “conspicuously thickened” stalk. In four out of five specimens, this hypocarp was still firmly attached to the nut, indicating that the two were dispersed as a unit. According to the researchers, the size and shape of the hypocarp – like a teardrop and two or three times longer than it is wide – support its assignation to the Anacardium genus, common to South America, rather than the African Fegimanra genus, though the fossils have features common to both.

“The occurrence of Anacardium in the early Middle Eocene of Germany suggests . . . that the two genera [Anacardium and Fegimanra] diverged after dispersal between Europe and Africa,” the researchers write. “Presumably, Anacardium traversed the North American landbridge during the Early or Middle Eocene, at a time of maximal climatic warmth, when higher latitudes were habitable by frost-sensitive plants.”

The astoundingly close similarity between the fossil and modern day Anacardium also indicates little evolutionary change to the cashew since the mid-Eocene period: “Although cashews have been cultivated for human consumption for centuries, it is clear that they were in existence millions of years before humans. The cashew had already evolved more than 45 million years ago, apparently in association with biotic dispersers,” they write.

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A major outlet for botanical research since 1875, the International Journal of Plant Sciences presents the results of original, peer-reviewed investigations from laboratories around the world in all areas of the plant sciences. Topics covered include genetics and genomics, developmental and cell biology, biochemistry and physiology, morphology and structure, systematics, plant-microbe interactions, paleobotany, evolution, and ecology.

Steven R. Manchester, Volker Wilde, and Margaret E. Collinson, “Fossil Cashew Nuts from the Eocene of Europe: Biogeographic Links Between Africa and South America.” International Journal of Plant Sciences 68(8):1199-1206.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: catastrophism; godsgravesglyphs
Nothing about humanoids but flora spreading via a northern land bridge might factor in to assumptions of human dispersal.
1 posted on 10/17/2007 11:53:51 AM PDT by decimon
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To: blam; SunkenCiv

Nut ping. ;-)


2 posted on 10/17/2007 11:55:23 AM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

So, 47 Million years ago, Europe was as warm as (e.g.) northern Brazil is today. Europe was a tropical country at least 5 degrees C warmer than in our current period of “runaway climate change”.

I can’t remember why I brought this up. Something to do with the Nobel Prize, but what it was escapes me.


3 posted on 10/17/2007 12:03:22 PM PDT by agere_contra (Do not confuse the wealth of nations with the wealth of government - FDT)
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To: decimon
Nothing about humanoids but flora spreading via a northern land bridge might factor in to assumptions of human dispersal.

Not if you're talking 47 million years ago, you're not. Primates in the early Eocene resembled primitive lemurs and lorises, and weren't anything like our immediate ancestors.

4 posted on 10/17/2007 12:05:36 PM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
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To: decimon
Link below to some evidence of African influence in pre-Columbian America.

http://www.raceandhistory.com/historicalviews/ancientamerica.htm

5 posted on 10/17/2007 12:07:51 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee ("A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.")
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To: Alter Kaker
Primates in the early Eocene resembled primitive lemurs and lorises, and weren't anything like our immediate ancestors.

Except in one respect...they knew that cashews were DEEEE-LISH!
6 posted on 10/17/2007 12:08:13 PM PDT by this is my name not yours (Free speech is the escape valve that keeps some people from picking up a rifle.)
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To: decimon
47 million years ago I think our ancestors were running around tree trunks eating bugs.

That's why lobsters don't have a chance! Little butter and garlic, ..... mmmmmmmmmmmm!

7 posted on 10/17/2007 12:26:51 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Alter Kaker; muawiyah

I meant that plants may have spread on their own sooner rather than as human cargo later.


8 posted on 10/17/2007 12:37:43 PM PDT by decimon
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To: Alter Kaker
Ancestral cashews spread through Europe.

Female and minority lemurs and lorises suffered the most.

9 posted on 10/17/2007 12:39:43 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: decimon; blam; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; 49th; ...

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Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Thanks decimon.

Migration of the cashew. Gesundheit.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

The quarterly FReepathon is underway.
GGG managers are Blam, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

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10 posted on 10/17/2007 12:44:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Profile updated Tuesday, October 16, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: decimon

They might have been spread by African Swallows laden with cashews. Nee


11 posted on 10/17/2007 12:49:05 PM PDT by Pajama Blogger (Pajama Power)
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To: 75thOVI; AFPhys; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; BenLurkin; Berosus; ...
Ries Basin, from an impact 15 million years ago, just a f'rinstance; these nutty fossils are 47 million years old.
 
Catastrophism
 
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12 posted on 10/17/2007 12:55:36 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Profile updated Tuesday, October 16, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: decimon
Cashew nut fossils have been identified in 47-million year old lake sediment in Germany, revealing that the cashew genus Anacardium was once distributed in Europe

Just goes to prove that there were nuts all over.

13 posted on 10/17/2007 12:56:36 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Never forget Matt Maupin)
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To: SunkenCiv
little evolutionary change to the cashew since the mid-Eocene period

Nothing more to do - perfection achieved. Once the cashew evolved, it had to wait until the martini caught up.

14 posted on 10/17/2007 1:28:43 PM PDT by colorado tanker (I'm unmoderated - just ask Bill O'Reilly)
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To: decimon

Apparently Europe used to be warmer than it is today.

(Yeah, it was probably also not in the same spot 47 million years ago, but who can pass up a jab at global warming when it is offered up on a platter.)


15 posted on 10/17/2007 2:54:22 PM PDT by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))
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To: colorado tanker

:’)


16 posted on 10/17/2007 3:07:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Profile updated Tuesday, October 16, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: coconutt2000
Yeah, it was probably also not in the same spot 47 million years ago, but who can pass up a jab at global warming when it is offered up on a platter.

And Europe should have been smaller than today due to higher sea levels back then. Higher sea levels, hence salted cashews. That's my theory, anyway.

17 posted on 10/17/2007 3:19:46 PM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

Hmmmm. Fossilized cashews. I think I have some in my freezer. I’m going to eat those for breakfast...


18 posted on 10/18/2007 7:32:46 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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