User:Primordialroot/Evolutionary anachronism

A relative of Gymnocladus and Gleditsia that also fails to propagate naturally due to the hard seed coat that is impenetrable to water. Seeds are presumably viable after passing through an animal's digestive track, but require treatment with acid or hot water to encourage artificial germination. Similar, related species are dispersed by megafaunal animals or thought to have evolved alongside now-extinct megafauna which they presumably benefited from. External dispersal is a primary mechanism used by similar large fruited species associated with megafauna animals utilized by a variety of variably sized vertebrate species.In multiple palm species there was a variety of vertebrates that aided in external dispersal of their seeds. A variety of sized vertebrate dispersed these seeds with different levels of efficacy, such as birds and monkeys.

Example: Gomortega keule (Gormotegaceae) is a monotypic species endemic to Chile with one of the largest fruits of Chile. This species overproduces its fruit leaving large quantities in the areas it grows. The fruits are large (30g), brightly yellow, with a hardened endocarp adhered to an edible flesh. Within the endocarp is a flat large soft seed. Modern consumer of the fruit such as livestock either discard or crack apart the stone in mastication and don't produce notable germination. Small native rodents and deer have been reported to consume the flesh of G. keule fruit but none have been found to interact with seed often leaving it behind. Dna genotyping performed on G. keule found a large amount of genetic inconsitstencies in allele combination although the fruit sampled was harveste from large quantities surrounding paternal trees.

Further research and evaluation of the fossil record provide answers to some cases of assumed anachronisms in two species. It was widely assumed that the extinct species of Moa in New Zealand had co-evolved with Prumnopitys and Elaeocarpus with unusually hardened endocarps. Additional research of the fossil record of Moa coprolites found that although they consumed the fruit the seeds did not remain intact through digestion.