[Taxacom] Angiosperm origins: Darwin's "abominable" mystery

[John Grehan]

Well there is nothing much new in this as Croizat presented
biogeographic and morphogenetic evidence for the origin of angiosperms
in the Carboniferous-Permian period. Of course he got ignored by the
dominant botanical authorities. But it's nice to see the 'modern'
technology back him up on that (without acknowledgement I expect).

John Grehan


> -----Original Message-----
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu [mailto:taxacom-
> bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Kenneth Kinman
> Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2010 11:28 PM
> To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> Subject: [Taxacom] Angiosperm origins: Darwin's "abominable" mystery
> 
> Dear All,
>       No wonder Charles Darwin regarded the origin of angiosperms as
an
> "abominable mystery".  Even today we are hard pressed to pin it down,
> and the early fossil record before the Cretaceous remains sketchy at
> best.
>        However, new molecular evidence published in Proceedings of the
> National Academy of Sciences earlier this week indicates that even the
> crown clade of angiosperms may have originated as early as the Upper
> Triassic.  This most likely indicates that stem angiosperms (which
went
> extinct) occur earlier.  I don't yet have access to the article, but
you
> can at least read the abstract here:
> 
> http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/03/15/1001225107
> 
>        So were the earliest angiosperms just earlier in the Triassic,
or
> back in the Paleozoic as some evidence seems to suggest?   There is
> tantalizing evidence that they may have split off from gymnosperms in
> the Permian or even the late Carboniferous.  There is not only direct
> trace evidence of fossil biomolecules in the Permian, but also
indirect
> genetic evidence (the split between paleo AP3 and PI genes) which date
> angiosperm origins to the Permian or slightly before.  Whether
> gigantopterids (and/or Bennettitales) might be immediate sister groups
> of the angiosperms remains to be seen.  However, both those groups are
> extremely interesting in both their timing and morphology as possible
> gymnosperm sister groups to angiosperms (Phylum Magnoliophyta).
>           -----------Ken Kinman
> 
> 
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