Late Aptian angiosperm pollen grains from Patagonia: Earliest steps in flowering plant evolution at middle latitudes in southern South America

Llorens, Magdalena; Loinaze, Valeria Susana Pérez

doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2015.07.019

Cited by 24 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…(); southern Patagonia, Argentina (Santa Cruz Province): Archangelsky et al . (), Llorens & Perez Loinaze (), and Perez Loinaze et al . (); Antarctica (James Ross Island, Antarctic Peninsula): Dettmann & Thomson (); Queensland, Australia (Eromanga and Surat Basins): Burger (); Victoria, Australia (Otway Basin): Dettmann (, ) and Korasidis et al .…”

Section: Patterns In the Cretaceous Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

How deep is the conflict between molecular and fossil evidence on the age of angiosperms?

2019

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Summary The timing of the origin of angiosperms is a hotly debated topic in plant evolution. Molecular dating analyses that consistently retrieve pre‐Cretaceous ages for crown‐group angiosperms have eroded confidence in the fossil record, which indicates a radiation and possibly also origin in the Early Cretaceous. Here, we evaluate paleobotanical evidence on the age of the angiosperms, showing how fossils provide crucial data for clarifying the situation. Pollen floras document a Northern Gondwanan appearance of monosulcate angiosperms in the Valanginian and subsequent poleward spread of monosulcates and tricolpate eudicots, accelerating in the Albian. The sequence of pollen types agrees with molecular phylogenetic inferences on the course of pollen evolution, but it conflicts strongly with Triassic and early Jurassic molecular ages, and the discrepancy is difficult to explain by geographic or taphonomic biases. Critical scrutiny shows that supposed pre‐Cretaceous angiosperms either represent other plant groups or lack features that might confidently assign them to the angiosperms. However, the record may allow the Late Jurassic existence of ecologically restricted angiosperms, like those seen in the basal ANITA grade. Finally, we examine recently recognized biases in molecular dating and argue that a thoughtful integration of fossil and molecular evidence could help resolve these conflicts.

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Section: Patterns In the Cretaceous Recordmentioning

confidence: 99%

How deep is the conflict between molecular and fossil evidence on the age of angiosperms?

2019

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“…7). Mesodescolea exemplifies this situation: the Baqueró palynoflora contains diverse angiospermous monosulcates (Archangelsky & Archangelsky, 2013; Llorens & Perez Loinaze, 2016), but no tricolpates, which are generally not reported in Argentina before the early Albian (Archangelsky et al ., 2009; for a possible exception, see Guler et al ., 2015). Similar cases are ternate leaves from the Aptian of central Argentina (Puebla, 2009), and pinnately lobed leaves with one order of fine venation ( Iterophyllum ) from the Barremian of Spain (Barral et al ., 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The associated plant assemblage contains diverse ferns, ‘seed ferns’, cycads, Bennettitales, Ginkgoales and conifers (Del Fueyo et al ., 2007; Llorens et al ., 2020). These and correlative units elsewhere in Argentina provide the first records of angiosperm leaves in southern South America (Romero & Archangelsky, 1986; Puebla, 2009; Archangelsky et al ., 2009; Romero et al ., 2016), together with reticulate‐columellar monosulcate angiosperm pollen, which extends back into the Barremian (Archangelsky et al ., 2009; Archangelsky & Archangelsky, 2013; Llorens & Perez Loinaze, 2016). This region was part of the Southern Gondwana floral province of Brenner (1976).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for an extinct lineage of angiosperms from the Early Cretaceous of Patagonia and implications for the early radiation of flowering plants

et al. 2020

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Summary The pinnately lobed Aptian leaf fossil Mesodescolea plicata was originally described as a cycad, but new evidence from cuticle structure suggests that it is an angiosperm. Here we document the morphology and cuticle anatomy of Mesodescolea and explore its significance for early angiosperm evolution. We observed macrofossils and cuticles of Mesodescolea with light, scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy, and used phylogenetic methods to test its relationships among extant angiosperms. Mesodescolea has chloranthoid teeth and tertiary veins forming elongate areoles. Its cuticular morphology and ultrastructure reject cycadalean affinities, whereas its guard cell shape and stomatal ledges are angiospermous. It shares variable stomatal complexes and epidermal oil cells with angiosperm leaves from the lower Potomac Group. Phylogenetic analyses and hypothesis testing support its placement within the basal ANITA grade, most likely in Austrobaileyales, but it diverges markedly in leaf form and venation. Although many Early Cretaceous angiosperms fall within the morphological range of extant taxa, Mesodescolea reveals unexpected early morphological and ecophysiological trends. Its similarity to other Early Cretaceous lobate leaves, many identified previously as eudicots but in some cases pre‐dating the appearance of tricolpate pollen, may indicate that Mesodescolea is part of a larger extinct lineage of angiosperms.

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“…The fossil bee nests C. krausei provide part of this evidence placing crown bees in the late Albian of Patagonia. The presence of bees in southern South America may be related to the rapid diversification and abundance increase of angiosperms since the middle Albian [57][58]. Recent phylogenies of bees showing a slow and constant rate of cladogenesis along Cretaceous-Cenozoic times [5] were in contrast with the rapid diversification proposed for the major lineages (orders) of angiosperms during the early and mid-Cretaceous [44].…”

Section: Evolutionary Historymentioning

confidence: 96%

100 Ma sweat bee nests: Early and rapid co-diversification of crown bees and flowering plants

et al. 2020

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100 Ma sweat bee nests reported herein are the oldest evidence of crown bees. A new phylogeny for short-tongued bees, calibrated with these nests dated with 40 Ar/ 39 Ar, attests for the first time for a late Albian rapid diversification of bees along with angiosperms. Such hypothesis lacked paleontological support until this study. The new ichnospecies Cellicalichnus krausei, which was found along with wasp trace fossils and new beetle trace fossils in the Castillo Formation of Patagonia, represents typical Halictini nests composed of sessile cells that are attached to main tunnels. According to geological, paleosol, paleobotanical, and ichnological data, bees, and angiosperms cohabited in an inland and dry environment comparable to an open dry woodland or savanna, under warm-temperate and semiarid-subhumid climate, in the Southern Hemisphere by the Albian.

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Late Aptian angiosperm pollen grains from Patagonia: Earliest steps in flowering plant evolution at middle latitudes in southern South America

Cited by 24 publications

References 54 publications

How deep is the conflict between molecular and fossil evidence on the age of angiosperms?

How deep is the conflict between molecular and fossil evidence on the age of angiosperms?

Evidence for an extinct lineage of angiosperms from the Early Cretaceous of Patagonia and implications for the early radiation of flowering plants

100 Ma sweat bee nests: Early and rapid co-diversification of crown bees and flowering plants

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