Plukenetia minima sp. nov. (Euphorbiaceae) in Dominican Republic amber.

A pistillate flower with maturing fruit is described as Plukenetia minima sp. nov. (Euphorbiaceae) in Cenozoic amber from the Dominican Republic. The fossil is characterised by its small size, short glabrous pedicel, glabrous receptacle, 4 sepals, 0 petals and disk, stylodia connate into a column with entire stigmatic tips, and four-carpellate ovary. The nearly mature fruits consist of 4, 2-valvate locules with septicidal dehiscence attached to a long, glabrous columella. An encyrtid wasp (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) is adjacent to the flower and a developing gall gnat (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) is developing in one of the seed pods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]