60 Million-Year-Old Seeds Show Death of Dinosaurs Helped Grapes Spread Worldwide
A groundbreaking discovery in paleobotany has unveiled a fascinating link between the extinction of dinosaurs and the proliferation of grapes. Researchers have unearthed fossil grape seeds dating back 60 to 19 million years in Colombia, Panama, and Peru, revealing how the demise of the dinosaurs may have paved the way for the global spread of grapes. This discovery, detailed in a recent study published in Nature Plants, offers new insights into plant evolution and the resilience of the grape family through multiple extinctions and dispersals. Unearthing Ancient Seeds The research team, led by Fabiany Herrera, an assistant curator at the Field Museum in Chicago, identified nine new species of fossil grapes. Among these is the earliest known example of the grape family in the Western Hemisphere, marking a significant milestone in the study of plant evolution. The fossil seed itself, though tiny, was identified based on its particular shape, size, and other morphological features, pro
