Systematic palaeontology.
Campanulids clade
Order: Aquifoliales Senft
Family: Aquifoliaceae Bercht. & J. Presl.
Genus: Ilex L.
Ilex wennebergii Rasmussen & B. Johans. sp. nov.
Holotype: NHMD 872634 (DK 1073). Collected by Lars Wenneberg on the west coast of Jutland 2.5 km south of Hvide Sande, Denmark.
Stratigraphic age. Estimates of the age of Baltic amber vary considerably, the most recent studies support a late Eocene (Priabonian) to the beginning of the Oligocene epoch 38 − 34 Ma [16, 17]
Etymology. The epithet honours the amber enthusiast and collector Lars Wenneberg, who has contributed to the knowledge of the biodiversity of Baltic amber with several interesting specimens.
Diagnosis. Generally similar to the male flower of Ilex aquifolia L., but about half the size of that species. The ratio filament:anther is 1:1, while in I. aquifolia its is 3:1. Differs from I. prussica Caspary ex Conwentz and Ilex minuta Conwentz by the larger calyx and by the glabrous calyx, petals and filaments, wider flower base and stamens being shorter than the petals. Differs from I. aurita Caspary by being tetramerous.
Description. A single staminate flower, embedded in amber at a late stage of flowering, all stamens open with filaments bending inwards (Fig. 1a, b, d, f) and corolla partially detached from the receptacle (Fig. 1c, e). The flower is c. 3.2 mm in diameter, with a calyx of four basically connate sepals with broadly triangular free lobes 0.6 × 0.6 mm (Fig. 2a). Petals four, valvate, strongly concave and obovate, 1.3-2.0 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, basically connate forming a corolla and adjoined with the calyx tube. Stamens four, alternating with the petals, 1.5 mm long, filaments strap shaped, inserted into the corolla, about as long as the anthers. Anthers dorsifixed, with four thecae, opening by longitudinal slits. Rudimentary ovary (pistillodium) subglobose, apex obtuse, 0.4 mm high and 0.5 mm in diameter (Fig. 2b, c).
Remarks. The specimen is mostly an impression, the sepals, three petal, the stamens and even the carpels of the pistillodium are voids with scattered grains of degraded organic material. This is the usual state of amber inclusions [14]. Only the pistillodium and one petal appear to be more solid, filled out with a grainy substance (Fig. 2b-c). The flower is withered, the corolla is partly detached, and the anthers are collapsed (Fig. 1c, d, e, Supplementary Video S3). The wide open and empty anthers suggest that this is due to deflowering and not a result of the pedicel being broken or torn. A single supposed pollen grain with three colpi was observed floating near an anther but the CT scanning cannot resolve the surface texture and the flower is too deeply embedded to use high magnification light microscopy. There are no traces of hairs on the calyx lobes or petals, but stellate oak hairs of various size are attached to the surface of some of the petals and scattered in the amber close to the flower. A few air bubbles are attached to the sepals and petals and a larger one (c. 0.5 mm broad) is attached to the side and top of the pistillodium. Figure 2d is a reconstruction of the flower before deflowering and embedding.
Syninclusions. The amber piece NHMD 872634 (Danekræ DK 1073) contains six arthropod fossils: a stalk-eyed fly (Diptera: Diopsidae), another fly (Diptera), a braconid wasp (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a click beetle (Coleoptera: Elateridae), a bristly millipede (Diplopoda: Polyxenida) and a mite (Acari).