Paired Flowers of Core Eudicots Discovered from Mid-Cretaceous Myanmar Amber

A pair of connected flowers preserved in a mid-Cretaceous (early Cenomanian) Myanmar amber is described and named Antiquigemina pilosa Wang and Li gen. et sp. nov.. Antiquigemina pilosa has bisexual flowers with a calyx of more than 3 sepals, a corolla of five (or six) petals, a whorl of more than 4 stamens and a tricarpellate pistil with a half inferior ovary. The differences in style divergence and calyx presence between paired flowers indicate different developmental stages. Antiquigemina pilosa is a core eudicot with a pentamerous or hexamerous perianth, in which sepals are obviously smaller than petals. Antiquigemina pilosa provides first-hand evidence for the early diversification of core eudicots.