Taxacom: "Early Permian" angiosperms... real or not real taxa/names?

Mon Jun 6 17:51:27 CDT 2022

Hi Michael,

You wrote:

> 'pteridosperms' are now generally accepted as a polyphyletic mess...

I do not doubt that you are correct here... in this instance the affinity
seems most likely to be with the Peltaspermales/Peltaspermaceae, one of
which (Peltaspermum retensorium) is associated with "polliniferous
organs... of the Permotheca type. These synangiate pollen organs consist of
4 to 9 pollen sacs attached to a small disc, which is up to 15 mm in
diameter (Plate II, 2, 3, 5-7; Figs. 6E, 7A,B, 8C). The individual pollen
sacs can slightly fused basally (Plate II, 2, 3, 7) or almost entirely free
(Plate II, 5, 6); they are always free apically." (Naugolnykh & Kerp,1996,
Aspects of Permian palaeobotany and palynology. XV. On the oldest known
peltasperms with radially symmetrical ovuliferous discs from the Kungurian
(uppermost Lower Permian) of the Fore-Urals (Russia).
doi:10.1016/0034-6667(95)00066-6 ), which look just like little flowers
(their fig. 7)... Also noting that Asterodiscus disparis Zalessky, 1937,
considered by Wachtler to be included in his suite of Early Permian
angiosperms, is listed by Naugolnykh & Kerp as a "probable synonym" of
Peltaspermum retensorium (the name Asterodiscus is also illegitimate
anyway, being preoccupied by a genus of diatom).

I have not yet checked Zalessky's Aspidion decemnervium, also cited by
Wachtler as a pre-Cretaceous angiosperm, but will attempt to chase it down
further.

So maybe in my database master taxonomy it would be best to allocate
Wachtler's new taxa to Peltaspermales in particular rather than
Pteridospermopsida in general, which as you say is a rather "broad church"
at present, and may indeed be split further along phylogenetic lines at
some point in the future.

Tony Rees, New South Wales, Australia
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On Tue, 7 Jun 2022 at 06:52, Michael Heads <m.j.heads at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Tony,
> 'pteridosperms' are now generally accepted as a polyphyletic mess - in
> practice the term just means 'early seed plant'. Many had 'flower-like'
> structures, but if you don't have a precise idea of what a flower is, this
> doesn't really help.
>
> On Tue, Jun 7, 2022 at 7:35 AM Tony Rees via Taxacom <taxacom at lists.ku.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Thanks Paul... on that basis I will proceed with entering Wachtler's names
>> into my system as "accepted" at this time (infers "validly published" in
>> botany), until/unless they are either stated to be not validly published,
>> or are synonymized, in later treatments.
>>
>> Reading a little further, I am now inclined to list them as unallocated
>> pteridosperms: as per S.V. Naugolnykh, 2013, "New male reproductive organs
>> of gymnosperms Permotheca colovratica sp. nov. from the Lower Permian of
>> the Ural Mountains", Paleontological Journal, 2013, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp.
>> 114–126 (available via researchgate), from the same locality and material;
>> Permotheca colovratica and several others (but not the type species) is
>> listed in Peltaspermales (Pterospermopsida) by J. Zhang et al., 2021, "The
>> Eco-Plant model and its implication on Mesozoic dispersed sporomorphs for
>> Bryophytes, Pteridophytes, and Gymnosperms", Review of Palaeobotany and
>> Palynology. 293: 104503., doi: 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2021.104503
>>
>> Despite being claimed as an early angiosperm by Wachtler (p. 26), P.
>> colovratica  has bisaccate in-situ pollen of the Falcisporites type (also
>> some Alisporites) which is clearly gymnospermous; Alisporites is
>> "considered to be characteristic of peltasperms in the broad sense (sensu
>> Meyen, 1987) and mostly Late Paleozoic and Mesozoic conifers of the
>> families Ullmanniaceae, Voltziaceae, and Podocarpaceae (Balme, 1995)"
>> according to  Naugolnykh, p. 122. Naugolnykh also notes that "Pollen
>> extracted from the sporangium of Permotheca colovratica sp. nov. is
>> similar
>> to disperse pollen grains (Pl. 2, figs. 2–4) abundant in the Permian
>> deposits of the ForeUrals" -  in other words the stratigraphic
>> distribution
>> of the (apparently gymnosperm) "flowers" matches the stratigraphic
>> distribution of the (gymnosperm) pollen grains with which they are
>> associated (which Wachtler does not consider), not anything angiospermous
>> (which latter might corroborate Wachtler's assignment/s, if found).
>>
>> Regards - Tony
>>
>> Naugolnykh's paper is well worth a look for an alternative view regarding
>> the classification of these Early Permian, flower-like structures.
>>
>> Regards - Tony
>>
>> Tony Rees, New South Wales, Australia
>>
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>>
>> On Tue, 7 Jun 2022 at 02:45, Paul van Rijckevorsel via Taxacom <
>> taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:
>>
>> > Yes, it seems likely that these names will squeeze by
>> > from a nomenclatural viewpoint. Although a diagnosis
>> > like "It has a compound of stamina with several
>> > filaments and anthers grouped into a flower-structure"
>> > by itself will be inadequate.
>> >
>> > In general, for nomenclature the exact taxonomic
>> > position hypothesized by the author is of no importance.
>> > If the conditions for valid publication are met, then it
>> > does not matter if later it turns out that the author got
>> > the taxonomy wrong, and that it concerns, say, animals
>> > instead of plants. The name itself will stand, even if it
>> > becomes clear that it does not stand for anything.
>> >
>> > Paul
>> >
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>> Nurturing nuance while assailing ambiguity for about 35 years, 1987-2022.
>>
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