A Late Holocene Lecythidaceae wood record from Valle del Cauca, Colombia

Abstract

A well-preserved fossil tree trunk was discovered in Valle del Cauca, Colombia. The radiocarbon date indicated that the tree lived during the Late Holocene, Meghalayan (4255 - 4083 cal BP). This finding is significant because the tree retains much of its original tissue. Based on wood anatomical comparisons, we suggest that this non-mineralized wood belongs to the family Lecythidaceae, a pantropical group of trees. This family includes around 12 recognized fossil genera based on fossil wood. The fossil probably belongs to the Bertholletia clade, which includes slow-growing, shadetolerant species often found in tropical dry forests. This suggests that dry forests dominated the Valle del Cauca region before agricultural lands largely replaced them over the past decades.