Fossil pollen records of extant angiosperms

Phylogeny and biogeographic diversification of Maianthemum (Ruscaceae: Polygonatae)

“…The oldest Asparagales fossil is 37.5 mya (Couper, 1960;Muller, 1981) and the estimate was 60-69 mya in Good-Avila et al (2006). In our estimates, however, the Asparagales was treated considerably older and was constrained at 119 mya based on Janssen and Bremer (2004).…”

“…A few fossils ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT of the Asparagales have been reported from the late Eocene (Couper, 1960;Muller, 1981;Herendeen and Crane, 1995), but all need to be carefully re-examined as they may be too young to calibrate the crown clade of the order (Wikström et al, 2001;Janssen and Bremer, 2004). The age of the crown Asparagales was estimated as 92-101 mya by Wikström et al (2001), and 119 mya by Janssen and Bremer (2004).…”

“…Convergence of the chains was checked using the program Relatively few reliable fossils have been reported from the monocots primarily due to problems of preservation (Herendeen and Crane, 1995;Gandolfo et al, 2000;Crepet et al, 2004). A few fossils ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT of the Asparagales have been reported from the late Eocene (Couper, 1960;Muller, 1981;Herendeen and Crane, 1995), but all need to be carefully re-examined as they may be too young to calibrate the crown clade of the order (Wikström et al, 2001;Janssen and Bremer, 2004) …”

Evolutionary events in Lilium (including Nomocharis, Liliaceae) are temporally correlated with orogenies of the Q–T plateau and the Hengduan Mountains

“…Bremer (2000) reviewed the Cretaceous lineages of monocots and observed that only a few systematically informative monocot fossils pre-date the K-T boundary and none of these are attributable to Liliales. Lililes-like pollen is first reported from the Aptian of the Cretaceous (125-112 Mya) and is characterized by having a broad colpus, an elongate shape, and distinctive exine sculpturing, which is finer towards the ends and coarser along the broadest section (Doyle, 1973;Muller, 1981;Friis et al, 2011). However, since similar pollen occurs elsewhere among the monocotyledons, this type is not definitively attributable to Liliales (Doyle, 1973;Daghlian, 1981;Bremer, 2000;Friis et al, 2011).…”

When did the mistletoe family Loranthaceae become extinct in Tasmania? Review and conjecture

“…Several other clades of similar or younger age have members in both Australasia and Asia (Vidal-Russell and Nickrent 2008a, b). Nevertheless, morphospecies resembling modern Loranthaceae pollen have been recorded from early to late Eocene deposits in northern and central Europe, the United States and China (references in Muller 1981;Song et al 2004) and it is possible that the family first appeared in both hemispheres about the same time but the ancient Northern Hemisphere lineages subsequently became extinct. Whether such speculations are an artefact of inadequate fossil data is unknown.…”