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Coiro M, McLoughlin S, Steinthorsdottir M, Vajda V, Fabrikant D, Seyfullah LJ. Parallel evolution of angiosperm-like venation in Peltaspermales: a reinvestigation of Furcula. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2024; 242:2845-2856. [PMID: 38623034 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19726] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
Leaf venation is a pivotal trait in the success of vascular plants. Whereas gymnosperms have single or sparsely branched parallel veins, angiosperms developed a hierarchical structure of veins that form a complex reticulum. Its physiological consequences are considered to have enabled angiosperms to dominate terrestrial ecosystems in the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Although a hierarchical-reticulate venation also occurs in some groups of extinct seed plants, it is unclear whether these are stem relatives of angiosperms or have evolved these traits in parallel. Here, we re-examine the morphology of the enigmatic foliage taxon Furcula, a potential early Mesozoic angiosperm relative, and argue that its hierarchical vein network represents convergent evolution (in the Late Triassic) with flowering plants (which developed in the Early Cretaceous) based on details of vein architecture and the absence of angiosperm-like stomata and guard cells. We suggest that its nearest relatives are Peltaspermales similar to Scytophyllum and Vittaephyllum, the latter being a genus that originated during the Late Triassic (Carnian) and shares a hierarchical vein system with Furcula. We further suggest that the evolution of hierarchical venation systems in the early Permian, the Late Triassic, and the Early Cretaceous represent 'natural experiments' that might help resolve the selective pressures enabling this trait to evolve.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Coiro
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
- Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship, Montclair, NJ, 07043, USA
| | - Stephen McLoughlin
- Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, 114 18, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Margret Steinthorsdottir
- Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, 114 18, Stockholm, Sweden
- Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 114 19, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Vivi Vajda
- Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, 114 18, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Dolev Fabrikant
- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 9190501, Israel
| | - Leyla J Seyfullah
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria
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2
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Coiro M. Embracing uncertainty: The way forward in plant fossil phylogenetics. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2024; 111:e16282. [PMID: 38334302 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.16282] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2023] [Revised: 12/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
Although molecular phylogenetics remains the most widely used method of inferring the evolutionary history of living groups, the last decade has seen a renewed interest in morphological phylogenetics, mostly driven by the promises that integrating the fossil record in phylogenetic trees offers to our understanding of macroevolutionary processes and dynamics and the possibility that the inclusion of fossil taxa could lead to more accurate phylogenetic hypotheses. The plant fossil record presents some challenges to its integration in a phylogenetic framework. Phylogenies including plant fossils often retrieve uncertain relationships with low support, or lack of resolution. This low support is due to the pervasiveness of morphological convergence among plant organs and the fragmentary nature of many plant fossils, and it is often perceived as a fundamental weakness reducing the utility of plant fossils in phylogenetics. Here I discuss the importance of uncertainty in morphological phylogenetics and how we can identify important information from different patterns and types of uncertainty. I also review a set of methodologies that can allow us to understand the causes underpinning uncertainty and how these practices can help us to further our knowledge of plant fossils. I also propose that a new visual language, including the use of networks instead of trees, represents an improvement on the old visualization based on consensus trees and more adequately serves phylogeneticists working with plant fossils. This set of methods and visualization tools represents an important way forward in a fundamental field for our understanding of the evolutionary history of plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Coiro
- Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship, Montclair, NJ, USA
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3
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Coiro M, Allio R, Mazet N, Seyfullah LJ, Condamine FL. Reconciling fossils with phylogenies reveals the origin and macroevolutionary processes explaining the global cycad biodiversity. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2023; 240:1616-1635. [PMID: 37302411 PMCID: PMC10953041 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The determinants of biodiversity patterns can be understood using macroevolutionary analyses. The integration of fossils into phylogenies offers a deeper understanding of processes underlying biodiversity patterns in deep time. Cycadales are considered a relict of a once more diverse and globally distributed group but are restricted to low latitudes today. We still know little about their origin and geographic range evolution. Combining molecular data for extant species and leaf morphological data for extant and fossil species, we study the origin of cycad global biodiversity patterns through Bayesian total-evidence dating analyses. We assess the ancestral geographic origin and trace the historical biogeography of cycads with a time-stratified process-based model. Cycads originated in the Carboniferous on the Laurasian landmass and expanded in Gondwana in the Jurassic. Through now-vanished continental connections, Antarctica and Greenland were crucial biogeographic crossroads for cycad biogeography. Vicariance is an essential speciation mode in the deep and recent past. Their latitudinal span increased in the Jurassic and restrained toward subtropical latitudes in the Neogene in line with biogeographic inferences of high-latitude extirpations. We show the benefits of integrating fossils into phylogenies to estimate ancestral areas of origin and to study evolutionary processes explaining the global distribution of present-day relict groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mario Coiro
- Department of PalaeontologyUniversity of Vienna1090ViennaAustria
- Ronin Institute for Independent ScholarshipMontclairNJ07043USA
| | - Rémi Allio
- Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations, INRAE, CIRAD, IRD, Montpellier SupAgroUniversité de Montpellier34988MontpellierFrance
| | - Nathan Mazet
- CNRS, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université de MontpellierPlace Eugène Bataillon34095MontpellierFrance
| | | | - Fabien L. Condamine
- CNRS, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université de MontpellierPlace Eugène Bataillon34095MontpellierFrance
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Gobo WV, Kunzmann L, Iannuzzi R, Dos Santos TB, da Conceição DM, Rodrigues do Nascimento D, da Silva Filho WF, Bachelier JB, Coiffard C. A new remarkable Early Cretaceous nelumbonaceous fossil bridges the gap between herbaceous aquatic and woody protealeans. Sci Rep 2023; 13:8978. [PMID: 37268714 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-33356-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Dating back to the late Early Cretaceous, the macrofossil record of the iconic lotus family (Nelumbonaceae) is one of the oldest of flowering plants and suggests that their unmistakable leaves and nutlets embedded in large pitted receptacular fruits evolved relatively little in the 100 million years since their first known appearance. Here we describe a new fossil from the late Barremian/Aptian Crato Formation flora (NE Brazil) with both vegetative and reproductive structures, Notocyamus hydrophobus gen. nov. et sp. nov., which is now the oldest and most complete fossil record of Nelumbonaceae. In addition, it displays a unique mosaic of ancestral and derived macro- and micromorphological traits that has never been documented before in this family. This new Brazilian fossil-species also provides a rare illustration of the potential morphological and anatomical transitions experienced by Nelumbonaceae prior to a long period of relative stasis. Its potential plesiomorphic and apomorphic features shared with Proteaceae and Platanaceae not only fill a major morphological gap within Proteales but also provide new support for their unexpected relationships first suggested by molecular phylogenies.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Vieira Gobo
- Departamento de Paleontologia e Estratigrafia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Rio Grande do Sul, Ave. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, 91501-970, Brazil.
| | - Lutz Kunzmann
- Abteilung Museum für Mineralogie und Geologie, Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Königsbrücker Landstrasse. 159, D-01109, Dresden, Germany.
| | - Roberto Iannuzzi
- Departamento de Paleontologia e Estratigrafia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Rio Grande do Sul, Ave. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, 91501-970, Brazil
| | - Thamiris Barbosa Dos Santos
- Departamento de Paleontologia e Estratigrafia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Rio Grande do Sul, Ave. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Porto Alegre, 91501-970, Brazil
| | - Domingas Maria da Conceição
- Universidade Regional do Cariri (URCA), St. Cel. Antônio Luíz 1161, Museu de Paleontologia Plácido Cidade Nuvens, Crato, Ceará, 63105-010, Brazil
| | - Daniel Rodrigues do Nascimento
- Departamento de Geologia, Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC), Campus do Pici - 912, Fortaleza, Ceará, 60440-554, Brazil
| | | | - Julien B Bachelier
- Structural and Functional Plant Diversity Group, Dahlem Centre of Plant Sciences, Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstrasse 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Clément Coiffard
- Structural and Functional Plant Diversity Group, Dahlem Centre of Plant Sciences, Institute of Biology, Freie Universität Berlin, Altensteinstrasse 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany
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Elgorriaga A, Atkinson BA. Cretaceous pollen cone with three-dimensional preservation sheds light on the morphological evolution of cycads in deep time. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2023; 238:1695-1710. [PMID: 36943236 DOI: 10.1111/nph.18852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The Cycadales are an ancient and charismatic group of seed plants. However, their morphological evolution in deep time is poorly understood. While molecular divergence time analyses estimate a Cretaceous origin for most major living cycad clades, much of the extant diversity is inferred to be a result of Neogene diversifications. This leads to long branches throughout the cycadalean phylogeny that, with few exceptions, have yet to be rectified by unequivocal fossil cycads. We report a permineralized pollen cone from the Campanian Holz Shale located in Silverado Canyon, CA, USA (c. 80 million yr ago). This fossil was studied via serial sectioning, SEM, 3D reconstruction and phylogenetic analyses. Microsporophyll and pollen morphology indicate this cone is assignable to Skyttegaardia, a recently described genus based on disarticulated lignitized microsporophylls from the Early Cretaceous of Denmark. Data from this new species, including a simple cone architecture, anatomical details and vasculature organization, indicate cycadalean affinities for Skyttegaardia. Phylogenetic analyses support this assignment and recover Skyttegaardia as crown-group Cycadales, nested within Zamiaceae. Our findings support a Cretaceous diversification for crown-group Zamiaceae, which included the evolution of morphological divergent extinct taxa with unique traits that have yet to be widely identified in the fossil record.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andres Elgorriaga
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA
- Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA
| | - Brian A Atkinson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA
- Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA
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Pessoa EM, Ribeiro AC, Christenhusz MJM, Coan AI, Jud NA. Is Santaniella a ranunculid? Reassessment of this enigmatic fossil angiosperm from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian, Crato Konservat-Lagerstätte, Brazil) provides a new interpretation. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2023; 110:e16163. [PMID: 37014186 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.16163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE The Lower Cretaceous Crato Konservat-Lagerstätte (CKL) preserves a rich flora that includes early angiosperms from northern Gondwana. From this area, the recently described fossil genus Santaniella was interpreted as a ranunculid (presumably Ranunculaceae). However, based on our examination of an additional specimen and a new phylogenetic analysis, we offer an alternative interpretation. METHODS The new fossil was collected from an active quarry for paving stones in the state of Ceará, northeastern Brazil. We assessed support for alternative phylogenetic hypotheses using a combined analysis of morphological data and DNA sequence data using Bayesian inference. We used a consensus network to visualize the posterior distribution of trees, and we used RoguePlot to illustrate the support for alternative positions on a scaffold tree. RESULTS The new material includes a flower-like structure not present in the original material and also includes follicles preserved at early stages of development. The flower-like structure is a compact terminal cluster of elliptical sterile laminar organs surrounding internal filamentous structures that occur on flexuous axes. Phylogenetic analyses did not support the fossil placement among eudicots. Instead, Santaniella appears to belong in the magnoliid clade. CONCLUSIONS The presence of seeds in a marginal-linear placentation and enclosed in a follicle supports the fossil as an angiosperm. However, even though most characters are clearly recognizable, its combination of characters does not provide strong support for a close relationship to any extant order of flowering plants. Its position in the magnoliid clade is intriguing and, based on plicate carpels, it is definitely a mesangiosperm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edlley M Pessoa
- Laboratório de Estudos Integrados de Plantas, Departamento de Botânica e Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil
| | - Alexandre C Ribeiro
- Departamento de Biologia e Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil
| | - Maarten J M Christenhusz
- Department of Environment and Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK
| | - Alessandra Ike Coan
- Departamento de Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho," Instituto de Biociências, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Nathan A Jud
- Department of Biology, William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri, USA
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7
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Coiro M, Roberts EA, Hofmann CC, Seyfullah LJ. Cutting the long branches: Consilience as a path to unearth the evolutionary history of Gnetales. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.1082639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The Gnetales are one of the most fascinating groups within seed plants. Although the advent of molecular phylogenetics has generated some confidence in their phylogenetic placement of Gnetales within seed plants, their macroevolutionary history still presents many unknowns. Here, we review the reasons for such unknowns, and we focus the discussion on the presence of “long branches” both in their molecular and morphological history. The increased rate of molecular evolution and genome instability as well as the numerous unique traits (both reproductive and vegetative) in the Gnetales have been obstacles to a better understanding of their evolution. Moreover, the fossil record of the Gnetales, though relatively rich, has not yet been properly reviewed and investigated using a phylogenetic framework. Despite these apparent blocks to progress we identify new avenues to enable us to move forward. We suggest that a consilience approach, involving different disciplines such as developmental genetics, paleobotany, molecular phylogenetics, and traditional anatomy and morphology might help to “break” these long branches, leading to a deeper understanding of this mysterious group of plants.
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Wilf P, Zou X, Donovan MP, Kocsis L, Briguglio A, Shaw D, Slik JWF, Lambiase JJ. First fossil-leaf floras from Brunei Darussalam show dipterocarp dominance in Borneo by the Pliocene. PeerJ 2022; 10:e12949. [PMID: 35356469 PMCID: PMC8958975 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.12949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2021] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
The Malay Archipelago is one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, but it suffers high extinction risks due to severe anthropogenic pressures. Paleobotanical knowledge provides baselines for the conservation of living analogs and improved understanding of vegetation, biogeography, and paleoenvironments through time. The Malesian bioregion is well studied palynologically, but there have been very few investigations of Cenozoic paleobotany (plant macrofossils) in a century or more. We report the first paleobotanical survey of Brunei Darussalam, a sultanate on the north coast of Borneo that still preserves the majority of its extraordinarily diverse, old-growth tropical rainforests. We discovered abundant compression floras dominated by angiosperm leaves at two sites of probable Pliocene age: Berakas Beach, in the Liang Formation, and Kampong Lugu, in an undescribed stratigraphic unit. Both sites also yielded rich palynofloral assemblages from the macrofossil-bearing beds, indicating lowland fern-dominated swamp (Berakas Beach) and mangrove swamp (Kampong Lugu) depositional environments. Fern spores from at least nine families dominate both palynological assemblages, along with abundant fungal and freshwater algal remains, rare marine microplankton, at least four mangrove genera, and a diverse rainforest tree and liana contribution (at least 19 families) with scarce pollen of Dipterocarpaceae, today's dominant regional life form. Compressed leaves and rare reproductive material represent influx to the depocenters from the adjacent coastal rainforests. Although only about 40% of specimens preserve informative details, we can distinguish 23 leaf and two reproductive morphotypes among the two sites. Dipterocarps are by far the most abundant group in both compression assemblages, providing rare, localized evidence for dipterocarp-dominated lowland rainforests in the Malay Archipelago before the Pleistocene. The dipterocarp fossils include winged Shorea fruits, at least two species of plicate Dipterocarpus leaves, and very common Dryobalanops leaves. We attribute additional leaf taxa to Rhamnaceae (Ziziphus), Melastomataceae, and Araceae (Rhaphidophora), all rare or new fossil records for the region. The dipterocarp leaf dominance contrasts sharply with the family's <1% representation in the palynofloras from the same strata. This result directly demonstrates that dipterocarp pollen is prone to strong taphonomic filtering and underscores the importance of macrofossils for quantifying the timing of the dipterocarps' rise to dominance in the region. Our work shows that complex coastal rainforests dominated by dipterocarps, adjacent to swamps and mangroves and otherwise similar to modern ecosystems, have existed in Borneo for at least 4-5 million years. Our findings add historical impetus for the conservation of these gravely imperiled and extremely biodiverse ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences and Earth & Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States
| | - Xiaoyu Zou
- Department of Geosciences and Earth & Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States
| | - Michael P. Donovan
- Department of Geosciences and Earth & Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States,Department of Paleobotany and Paleoecology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
| | - László Kocsis
- Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam,Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Antonino Briguglio
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e della Vita, Università degli Studi di Genova, Genoa, Italy
| | - David Shaw
- Biostratigraphic Associates (UK) Ltd., Stoke-on-Trent, UK
| | - JW Ferry Slik
- Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam
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9
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Pessoa EM, Ribeiro AC, Jud NA. A eudicot leaf from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian, Araripe Basin) Crato Konservat-Lagerstätte. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2021; 108:2055-2065. [PMID: 34647319 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Revised: 06/24/2021] [Accepted: 06/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE The Crato Konservat-Lagerstätte in Brazil preserves an exceptionally rich assemblage of plant macrofossils from the Early Cretaceous (late Aptian), including rare early angiosperm fossils related to Nymphaeales, monocots, and magnoliids, and a variety of angiosperms of uncertain affinities. Macrofossils of eudicot angiosperms have not been described previously, despite the presence of tricolpate pollen. We describe a fossil leaf with morphology characteristic of eudicot angiosperms. METHODS The fossil was collected from a quarry in the Lower Cretaceous (late Aptian) Crato Formation of northeastern Brazil in the state of Ceará. We compared the leaf architecture with that of ferns, gymnosperms, and similar living and fossil angiosperms. RESULTS The leaf of Baderadea pinnatissecta gen. et sp. nov. is simple and petiolate, with leaf architecture similar to that of some herbaceous Ranunculales. The blade is 5 cm long and the margin is untoothed and twice pinnately lobed with narrow lobes (pinnatisect). The primary vein framework is pinnate and there are multiple orders of reticulate venation. CONCLUSIONS The combination of characters preserved in the fossil supports the interpretation that B. pinnatissecta was an herbaceous eudicot similar to some members of Ranunculales and distinguished from other lobate Aptian angiosperms by leaf shape, presence of multiple orders of reticulate venation, and the absence of glandular teeth. The presence of eudicots in the flora of the Crato was already supported by pollen; the discovery of macrofossils like these provides additional information about their morphology and ecological role in low-latitude Early Cretaceous plant communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edlley M Pessoa
- Laboratório de Estudos Integrados de Plantas, Departamento de Botânica e Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil
| | - Alexandre C Ribeiro
- Departamento de Biologia e Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil
| | - Nathan A Jud
- Department of Biology, William Jewell College, Liberty, MO, 64068, USA
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10
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Silvestro D, Bacon CD, Ding W, Zhang Q, Donoghue PCJ, Antonelli A, Xing Y. Fossil data support a pre-Cretaceous origin of flowering plants. Nat Ecol Evol 2021; 5:449-457. [PMID: 33510432 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-01387-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Flowering plants (angiosperms) are the most diverse of all land plants, becoming abundant in the Cretaceous and achieving dominance in the Cenozoic. However, the exact timing of their origin remains a controversial topic, with molecular clocks generally placing their origin much further back in time than the oldest unequivocal fossils. To resolve this discrepancy, we developed a Bayesian method to estimate the ages of angiosperm families on the basis of the fossil record (a newly compiled dataset of ~15,000 occurrences in 198 families) and their living diversity. Our results indicate that several families originated in the Jurassic, strongly rejecting a Cretaceous origin for the group. We report a marked increase in lineage accumulation from 125 to 72 million years ago, supporting Darwin's hypothesis of a rapid Cretaceous angiosperm diversification. Our results demonstrate that a pre-Cretaceous origin of angiosperms is supported not only by molecular clock approaches but also by analyses of the fossil record that explicitly correct for incomplete sampling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniele Silvestro
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Fribourg, Switzerland.
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden.
| | - Christine D Bacon
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Wenna Ding
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, China
| | - Qiuyue Zhang
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, China
- Department of Computational Biology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | - Alexandre Antonelli
- Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, UK
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Yaowu Xing
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, China
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