Overview
- Hymenaeaphyllum mirandae is an extinct resin-producing tree dated to roughly 23 million years ago and identified from Mexican amber in Simojovel de Allende, Chiapas.
- The study examined seven specimens from the La Quinta area of the Simojovel Formation that contained well-preserved leaves, flower fragments and insects.
- Identification relied on foliar microstructures, including translucent glandular points, brochidodromous secondary veins and asymmetric leaflet bases.
- The fossils show morphological affinities with living resin-producing genera such as Hymenaea courbaril, Guibourtia and Peltogyne, with parallels also noted to paleotropical African taxa.
- The authors—Ana Lilia Hernández Damián, Marco A. Rubalcava-Knoth and Sergio Cevallos-Ferriz—caution that precise placement within modern genera awaits fossils linking leaves to reproductive organs.