Reconsidering Relationships among Stem and Crown Group Pinaceae: Oldest Record of the Genus Pinus from the Early Cretaceous of Yorkshire, United Kingdom

New fossil Pinaceae from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia

“…Picea farjonii, along with P. burtonii therefore imply that not only Cathaya and Pinus had already diverged by this time, but so also had several lineages that include other extant genera. This is also consistent with records of Pinus and Pinus-like seed cones (described as Pityostrobus) from the Early Cretaceous (Ryberg et al 2012). Picea farjonii and P. burtonii also underline the extent to which certain anatomical and morphological characters have been exceptionally conserved within the family (Klymiuk and Stockey 2012), despite major geographic, climatic, and ecological changes in the Northern Hemisphere since the Early Cretaceous (Leslie et al 2012).…”

“…While most extant genera of Pinaceae are first recognized in the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic (e.g., Alvin 1960; Klymiuk and Stockey 2012;Ryberg et al 2012), there is good evidence that the family differentiated from other conifers earlier in the Mesozoic . Picea farjonii and Pityostrobus stockeyae add to the variety of pinaceous plants known from the Late Mesozoic, and together with species of Pityostrobus that are of similar age, they underline the extent to which the Early Cretaceous was a dynamic phase in the origin of modern clades within Pinaceae.…”

“…Ma- jor anatomical features that characterize Picea include: (i) vascular traces to each scale and its associated bract that branch separately from the vascular cylinder of the cone axis (not preserved in P. farjonii); (ii) vascular traces to ovuliferous scale abaxially concave (not preserved in P. farjonii); (iii) separation of the bract by constriction of the bract-scale complex with the lateral margins; (iv) bract lacking sclerenchyma; (v) bract with two or more resin canals; (vi) non-vesiculate seed coat; (vii) inner and outer cortex with sclerenchyma; and (viii) ovuliferous scale with resin canals that diverge from the cone axis abaxial to the scale trace, with some becoming adaxial distally (not preserved in P. farjonii). This latter character appears to be restricted to extant Picea and the fossil Pityostrobus oblongus (Miller 1976a;Smith and Stockey 2001;Klymiuk and Stockey 2012), although these two taxa are not resolved as closely related in cladistic analyses of the family Stockey 2001, 2002;Gernandt et al 2011;Klymiuk and Stockey 2012;Ryberg et al 2012;Smith et al 2016). Thus, while several of the key anatomical features used by Miller (1976a) to distinguish the seed cones of different genera of extant Pinaceae are not preserved in the new fossil species, in all of the morphological and anatomical features of the seed cones and leaves that can be observed, P. farjonii is very similar to extant Picea.…”

“…As a morphogenus in Pinaceae, there are no diagnostic features that distinguish all species of Pityostrobus (Ryberg et al 2012). However, a common feature of all previously described Pityostrobus species is a bract that is considerably shorter than the ovuliferous scale (i.e., nonexserted), which is absent in Pityostrobus stockeyae.…”

“…Dutt., a morphogenus that includes at least 29 species that are probably of diverse relationships to extant and extinct lineages of Pinaceae (e.g., Dutt 1916;Miller 1972Miller , 1974Miller , 1976bMiller , 1977bMiller , 1985Stockey 1981;Falder et al 1998;Stockey 2001, 2002;Shang et al 2001;Smith et al 2016). So far, few well-preserved and critically studied seed cones from the Early Cretaceous have been placed unequivocally in extant genera of Pinaceae (e.g., Alvin 1960; Klymiuk and Stockey 2012;Ryberg et al 2012). A rare exception is the permineralized seed cone of Picea burtonii Klymiuk et Stockey described from the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) of North America (Klymiuk and Stockey 2012).…”