Jimena Franco

👩‍🔬 By: Luciano Protti Cosenza, Jimena Franco & Mariana Brea
🏛️ Paleobotany Lab – CICYTTP (CONICET – Gov. ER – UADER)
📍Pre-Delta National Park, Diamante, Entre Ríos
🗞️ Published in: Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales (2024): revista.macn.gob.ar/index.php/Re...

🧪 This is the first anatomical study of charred woods from the Paraná Delta ecoregion.
It provides tools for identifying archaeological charcoal across NE Argentina and understanding resource use by early communities in floodplain settings.

🎯 Why does this matter?
Because charcoals retain key anatomical features after carbonization, they can be compared with this reference collection to:
✅ Identify archaeological wood remains
✅ Infer past fuel use, construction, and cooking practices
✅ Reconstruct human-environment interactions

These taxa show diverse wood features:
• Diffuse porosity
• Septate fibres
• Crystals in rays
• Various vessel groupings
• Apotracheal & paratracheal parenchyma
➡️ All essential traits for accurate anthracological ID

We selected 9 native tree species, carbonized their wood in the lab (400°C/40 min), and documented their anatomy in 3 planes using:
🔬 Stereomicroscope
🔬 Inverted trinocular microscope
🔬 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)

The Pre-Delta National Park (PNPD) preserves one of the richest ecosystems of the Paraná Delta.
Its gallery forests are shaped by seasonal flooding, and host species with high ecological plasticity.
🌊🌿 This area was also a major settlement zone for pre-Hispanic societies.

🔥🪵 Charcoal wood anatomy from NE Argentina
We developed a reference collection of carbonized woods from 9 gallery forest species in Pre-Delta National Park (Entre Ríos, Argentina).
#Archaeobotany #Paleobotany #WoodAnatomy #Xylology

The Ituzaingó Formation continues to yield extraordinary fossil wood records, helping to reconstruct the palaeoenvironments of the Neogene.
📖 Full article link: brill.com/view/journal...

📚 Authored by M. Jimena Franco, Camila Martínez Martínez & Mariana Brea
🧪 Paleobotany Lab – CICYTTP (CONICET – Gov. of ER – UADER)

📈 These fossils extend the known historical range of Myrtaceae in South America and contribute to understanding Neotropical flora evolution.

💧 V and M indices suggest efficient water conduction under fluctuating moisture regimes.
These traits reveal the long-standing ecological flexibility of Myrtaceae since the Miocene.

🔬 We studied key anatomical features:
• Exclusively solitary, small vessels
• Vestured pits
• Tracheids and fibres with bordered pits
• Diffuse-in-aggregates apotracheal parenchyma
• Vulnerability (V) & Mesomorphy (M) indices

Uruguaianoxylon ragoneseae shows affinities with Myrcia, while U. aff. striata resembles *Blepharocalyx salicifolius.
Both taxa reflect adaptation to humid or seasonally dry tropical/subtropical environments.

The fossils come from the Ituzaingó Formation, a fluvial deposit of the ancient Paraná River in northeastern Argentina.
Exceptional preservation allowed for detailed anatomical analysis.
📍 Villa Urquiza & Arroyo El Espinillo, Entre Ríos

🔬🌿 A paper published in IAWA Journal!
From the Miocene of Entre Ríos, Argentina, we describe two fossil woods of Myrtaceae:
👉 Uruguaianoxylon ragoneseae sp. nov.
👉 Uruguaianoxylon aff. striata
#Paleobotany #FossilWoods #SouthAmerica #IAWA