[Taxacom] New genus of early angiosperms (Early Jurassic flowers)

[Tony Rees]

There's a commentary on this article published 5 days ago here:
https://elifesciences.org/articles/43421 - seems to accept the finds and
conclusions as published...

Regards - Tony

Tony Rees, New South Wales, Australia
https://about.me/TonyRees


On Sun, 23 Dec 2018 at 04:38, John Grehan <calabar.john at gmail.com> wrote:

> Croizat always said that there were angiosperms in the Jurassic. Nice
> confirmaton.
>
> John Grehan
>
> On Wed, Dec 19, 2018 at 9:32 PM Kenneth Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Dear All,
> >       I didn't plan to post anything further on the origin of
> angiosperms,
> > but a fascinating new genus of angiosperm was named and described this
> week
> > (called Nanjinganthus), and it is from the Early Jurassic.  Although it
> is
> > clearly an angiosperm, it's phylogenetic position has not been
> determined,
> > so it is unclear if it is a stem group angiosperm or a member of the
> crown
> > group.  In any case, it is an exciting development, and here is a weblink
> > to the article (and the abstract is given below):
> > https://elifesciences.org/articles/38827
> >
> > Abstract
> >
> > The origin of angiosperms has been a long-standing botanical debate. The
> > great diversity of angiosperms in the Early Cretaceous makes the
> Jurassic a
> > promising period in which to anticipate the origins of the angiosperms.
> > Here, based on observations of 264 specimens of 198 individual flowers
> > preserved on 34 slabs in various states and orientations, from the South
> > Xiangshan Formation (Early Jurassic) of China, we describe a fossil
> flower,
> > Nanjinganthus dendrostyla gen. et sp. nov.. The large number of specimens
> > and various preservations allow for an evidence-based reconstruction of
> the
> > flower. From the evidence of the combination of an invaginated receptacle
> > and ovarian roof, we infer that the seeds of Nanjinganthus were
> completely
> > enclosed. Evidence of an actinomorphic flower with a dendroid style,
> > cup-form receptacle, and angiospermy, is consistent with Nanjinganthus
> > being a bona fide angiosperm from the Jurassic, an inference that we hope
> > will re-invigorate research into angiosperm origins.
> > https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.38827.001
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> on behalf of Kenneth
> > Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com>
> > Sent: Friday, December 14, 2018 8:43 AM
> > To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu
> > Subject: [Taxacom] Where (and when) angiosperms originated
> >
> > Dear All,
> >        I've been studying the literature on angiosperm origins, and there
> > is apparently a very long period of time between the origin of
> angiosperms
> > and the origin of crown group angiosperms.  I have concluded that where
> > angiosperms originated is probably also a totally different place.
> >        Crown group angiosperms probably originated in Gondwana, most
> > likely in Australia since so many basal families occur in the forests of
> > northern Queensland (which in the past were even closer to New
> Caledonia).
> > However, where the first angiosperms originated is a totally different
> > question.  My hypothesis is that the first angiosperms perhaps split from
> > their probable sister group Caytoniales as far away as Laurasia, rather
> > than Gondwana (perhaps in the Permian, if not earlier).
> >       Of course, the larger numbers of records of putative angiosperm
> > pollen (and Caytonia fossils) in Europe and eastern North America could
> be
> > due to more intensive research in those areas, so an origin in Africa
> > shouldn't be ruled out.  What route they took to Australia could depend
> on
> > when that expansion took place.  Papers by Dettmann suggested that they
> got
> > to Australia through Antarctica.  In any case, there is no evidence that
> > angiosperms originated in Australia, but there is plenty of evidence that
> > crown group angiosperms did originate in Australia (far from where the
> > earliest angiosperms originated).
> >                          -------------Ken Kinman
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