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Kim HT, Kim JS. Complete chloroplast genome of Austral king fern Todea barbara (L.) Moore (Osmundaceae). Mitochondrial DNA B Resour 2023; 8:799-803. [PMID: 37545552 PMCID: PMC10399469 DOI: 10.1080/23802359.2023.2238938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023] Open
Abstract
In this study, we determined the chloroplast genome sequence of the Austral king fern, Todea barbara (L.) Moore. The plastome of T. barbara is a typical circular form composed of 144,208 bp with two inverted repeats (IRs; 10,442 bp), a large single copy (LSC; 101,059 bp), and a small single copy (SSC; 22,265 bp). The complete sequence comprises 131 genes, namely 85 protein-coding genes, eight ribosomal RNAs, and 38 transfer RNAs. The guanine-cytosine (GC) content of the genome was found to be 39.9%. Additionally, U-to-C RNA editing sites were identified in eight genes: atpE, chlB, clpP, matK, rpl20, rpoB, rpoC1, and rpoC2. Phylogenetic analysis using 85 coding gene sequences revealed that the genera Todea and Osmunda form a clade and that the genus Osmundastrum is a sister genus to both.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyoung Tae Kim
- Department of Ecological and Environmental System, Kyungpook National University, Sangju, Kyungpook, South Korea
| | - Jung Sung Kim
- Department of Forest Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea
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Andruchow-Colombo A, Rossetto-Harris G, Brodribb TJ, Gandolfo MA, Wilf P. A new fossil Acmopyle with accessory transfusion tissue and potential reproductive buds: Direct evidence for ever-wet rainforests in Eocene Patagonia. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2023; 110:e16221. [PMID: 37598386 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.16221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Revised: 05/03/2023] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE Acmopyle (Podocarpaceae) comprises two extant species from Oceania that are physiologically restricted to ever-wet rainforests, a confirmed fossil record based on leaf adpressions and cuticles in Australia since the Paleocene, and a few uncertain reports from New Zealand, Antarctica, and South America. We investigated fossil specimens with Acmopyle affinities from the early Eocene Laguna del Hunco site in Patagonia, Argentina. METHODS We studied 42 adpression leafy-shoot fossils and included them in a total evidence phylogenetic analysis. RESULTS Acmopyle grayae sp. nov. is based on heterophyllous leafy shoots with three distinct leaf types. Among these, bilaterally flattened leaves uniquely preserve subparallel, linear features that we interpret as accessory transfusion tissue (ATT, an extra-venous water-conducting tissue). Some apical morphologies of A. grayae shoots are compatible with the early stages of ovuliferous cone development. Our phylogenetic analysis recovers the new species in a polytomy with the two extant Acmopyle species. We report several types of insect-herbivory damage. We also transfer Acmopyle engelhardti from the middle Eocene Río Pichileufú flora to Dacrycarpus engelhardti comb. nov. CONCLUSIONS We confirm the biogeographically significant presence of the endangered West Pacific genus Acmopyle in Eocene Patagonia. Acmopyle is one of the most drought-intolerant genera in Podocarpaceae, possibly due to the high collapse risk of the ATT, and thus the new fossil species provides physiological evidence for the presence of an ever-wet rainforest environment at Laguna del Hunco during the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Andruchow-Colombo
- Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Av. Fontana 140, Trelew, Chubut, 9100, Argentina
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina
- LH Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, New York, 14853, USA
| | - Gabriella Rossetto-Harris
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, USA
| | - Timothy J Brodribb
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, Tasmania, 7001, Australia
| | - María A Gandolfo
- Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Av. Fontana 140, Trelew, Chubut, 9100, Argentina
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina
- LH Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, New York, 14853, USA
| | - Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, USA
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Chetverikov PE, Craemer C, Gankevich VD, Zhuk AS. Integrative Taxonomy of the Gall Mite Nothopoda todeica n. sp. (Eriophyidae) from the Disjunct Afro-Australasian Fern Todea barbara: Morphology, Phylogeny, and Mitogenomics. INSECTS 2023; 14:507. [PMID: 37367323 DOI: 10.3390/insects14060507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Revised: 05/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Eriophyoidea is a group of phytoparasitic mites with poorly resolved phylogeny. Previous studies inferred Eriophyidae s.l. as the largest molecular clade of Eriophyoidea, and Nothopodinae as the basal divergence of Eriophyidae s.l. We investigate the morphology and molecular phylogeny of Nothopoda todeican. sp. (Nothopodinae, Nothopodini), associated with a disjunct Afro-Australasian fern Todea barbara (Osmundaceae) from South Africa. Our analyses (1) determine new erroneous sequences (KF782375, KF782475, KF782586) wrongly assigned to Nothopodinae instead of Phyllocoptinae, (2) confirm the basal position of Nothopodinae in Eriophyoidea s.l., (3) question the monophyly of the Colopodacini and Nothopodini tribes, and (4) show the nested position of African fern-associated Nothopoda within a clade dominated by Asian nothopodines from angiosperms, which implies (a) a secondary association of nothopodines with ferns and (b) no relation between geography (continents) and the phylogenetic relationships of Nothopodinae species. Finally, we obtained a first complete mitochondrial genome for Nothopodinae and revealed a new gene order in the mitogenome of N. todeican. sp., notably deviating from those in other investigated eriophyoids. Our results contribute to resolving the phylogeny of Eriophyoidea and provide an example of an integrative study of a new taxon belonging to an economically important group of acariform mites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philipp E Chetverikov
- Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya Nab. 1, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Charnie Craemer
- Manaaki Whenua-Landcare Research, 231 Morrin Road, Auckland 1072, New Zealand
| | - Vladimir D Gankevich
- Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya Nab. 1, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Anna S Zhuk
- Institute of Applied Computer Science, ITMO University, 191002 St. Petersburg, Russia
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Wilf P, Iglesias A, Gandolfo MA. The first Gondwanan Euphorbiaceae fossils reset the biogeographic history of the Macaranga-Mallotus clade. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2023; 110:e16169. [PMID: 37128981 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.16169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Revised: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE The spurge family Euphorbiaceae is prominent in tropical rainforests worldwide, particularly in Asia. There is little consensus on the biogeographic origins of the family or its principal lineages. No confirmed spurge macrofossils have come from Gondwana. METHODS We describe the first Gondwanan macrofossils of Euphorbiaceae, represented by two infructescences and associated peltate leaves from the early Eocene (52 Myr ago [Ma]) Laguna del Hunco site in Chubut, Argentina. RESULTS The infructescences are panicles bearing tiny, pedicellate, spineless capsular fruits with two locules, two axile lenticular seeds, and two unbranched, plumose stigmas. The fossils' character combination only occurs today in some species of the Macaranga-Mallotus clade (MMC; Euphorbiaceae), a widespread Old-World understory group often thought to have tropical Asian origins. The associated leaves are consistent with extant Macaranga. CONCLUSIONS The new fossils are the oldest known for the MMC, demonstrating its Gondwanan history and marking its divergence by at least 52 Ma. This discovery makes an Asian origin of the MMC unlikely because immense oceanic distances separated Asia and South America 52 Ma. The only other MMC reproductive fossils so far known are also from the southern hemisphere (early Miocene, southern New Zealand), far from the Asian tropics. The MMC, along with many other Gondwanan survivors, most likely entered Asia during the Neogene Sahul-Sunda collision. Our discovery adds to a substantial series of well-dated, well-preserved fossils from one undersampled region, Patagonia, that have changed our understanding of plant biogeographic history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Ari Iglesias
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, R8400FRF, Argentina
| | - María A Gandolfo
- L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
- Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Trelew, Chubut, 9100, Argentina
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Deanna R, Wilf P, Gandolfo MA. New physaloid fruit-fossil species from early Eocene South America. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2020; 107:1749-1762. [PMID: 33247843 DOI: 10.1002/ajb2.1565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2020] [Accepted: 08/19/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE Solanaceae is a scientifically and economically important angiosperm family with a minimal fossil record and an intriguing early evolutionary history. Here, we report a newly discovered fossil lantern fruit with a suite of features characteristic of Physalideae within Solanaceae. The fossil comes from the early Eocene Laguna del Hunco site (ca. 52 Ma) in Chubut, Argentina, which previously yielded the only other physaloid fruit fossil, Physalis infinemundi. METHODS The fruit morphology and calyx venation pattern of the new fossil were compared with P. infinemundi and extant species of Solanaceae. RESULTS Physalis hunickenii sp. nov. is clearly distinct from P. infinemundi in its fruiting calyx with wider primary veins, longer and thinner lobes, and especially in its venation pattern with high density, transverse tertiary veins; these features support its placement in a new species. In comparison with extant physaloid genera, the calyx venation pattern and other diagnostic traits reinforce placement of the new fossil, like P. infinemundi, within the tribe Physalideae of Solanaceae. CONCLUSIONS Both species of fossil nightshades from Laguna del Hunco represent crown-group Solanaceae but are older than all prior age estimates of the family. Although at least 20 transoceanic dispersals have been proposed as the driver of range expansion of Solanaceae, the Patagonian fossils push back the diversification of the family to Gondwanan times. Thus, overland dispersal across Gondwana is now a likely scenario for at least some biogeographic patterns, in light of the ancient trans-Antarctic land connections between South America and Australia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rocío Deanna
- Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal, IMBIV (CONICET-UNC), CC 495, Córdoba, 5000, Argentina
- Departamento de Ciencias Farmacéuticas, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas (FCQ, UNC), Medina Allende s.n., Córdoba, 5000, Argentina
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80305, USA
| | - Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences and Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, USA
| | - Maria A Gandolfo
- L.H. Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA
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Persistent biotic interactions of a Gondwanan conifer from Cretaceous Patagonia to modern Malesia. Commun Biol 2020; 3:708. [PMID: 33239710 PMCID: PMC7689466 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01428-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2020] [Accepted: 10/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Many plant genera in the tropical West Pacific are survivors from the paleo-rainforests of Gondwana. For example, the oldest fossils of the Malesian and Australasian conifer Agathis (Araucariaceae) come from the early Paleocene and possibly latest Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina (West Gondwana). However, it is unknown whether dependent ecological guilds or lineages of associated insects and fungi persisted on Gondwanan host plants like Agathis through time and space. We report insect-feeding and fungal damage on Patagonian Agathis fossils from four latest Cretaceous to middle Eocene floras spanning ca. 18 Myr and compare it with damage on extant Agathis. Very similar damage was found on fossil and modern Agathis, including blotch mines representing the first known Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary crossing leaf-mine association, external foliage feeding, galls, possible armored scale insect (Diaspididae) covers, and a rust fungus (Pucciniales). The similar suite of damage, unique to fossil and extant Agathis, suggests persistence of ecological guilds and possibly the component communities associated with Agathis since the late Mesozoic, implying host tracking of the genus across major plate movements that led to survival at great distances. The living associations, mostly made by still-unknown culprits, point to previously unrecognized biodiversity and evolutionary history in threatened rainforest ecosystems.
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Wilf P. Eocene " Chusquea" fossil from Patagonia is a conifer, not a bamboo. PHYTOKEYS 2020; 139:77-89. [PMID: 32076379 PMCID: PMC7010844 DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.139.48717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2019] [Accepted: 01/15/2020] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Chusquea oxyphylla Freng. & Parodi, 1941, a fossilized leafy branch from the early Eocene (52 Ma), late-Gondwanan Laguna del Hunco biota of southern Argentina, is still cited as the oldest potential bamboo fossil and as evidence for a Gondwanan origin of bamboos. On recent examination, the holotype specimen was found to lack any typical bamboo characters such as nodes, sheaths, ligules, pseudopetioles, or parallel leaf venation. Instead, it has decurrent, clasping, univeined, heterofacially twisted leaves with thickened, central-longitudinal bands of presumed transfusion tissue. These and other features allow confident placement in the living Neotropical and West Pacific disjunct genus Retrophyllum (Podocarpaceae), which was recently described from the same fossil site based on abundant, well-preserved material. However, the 1941 fossil holds nomenclatural priority, requiring the new combination Retrophyllum oxyphyllum (Freng. & Parodi) Wilf, comb. nov. No reliable bamboo fossils remain from Gondwana, and the oldest South American bamboo fossils are Pliocene. Chusquea joins a growing list of living New World genera that are no longer included in Paleogene Patagonian floras, whose extant relatives are primarily concentrated in Australasia and Malesia via the ancient Gondwanan route through Antarctica.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USAPennsylvania State UniversityUniversity ParkUnited States of America
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Bippus AC, Escapa IH, Wilf P, Tomescu AMF. Fossil fern rhizomes as a model system for exploring epiphyte community structure across geologic time: evidence from Patagonia. PeerJ 2019; 7:e8244. [PMID: 31844594 PMCID: PMC6911690 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2017] [Accepted: 11/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background In extant ecosystems, complex networks of ecological interactions between organisms can be readily studied. In contrast, understanding of such interactions in ecosystems of the geologic past is incomplete. Specifically, in past terrestrial ecosystems we know comparatively little about plant biotic interactions besides saprotrophy, herbivory, mycorrhizal associations, and oviposition. Due to taphonomic biases, epiphyte communities are particularly rare in the plant-fossil record, despite their prominence in modern ecosystems. Accordingly, little is known about how terrestrial epiphyte communities have changed across geologic time. Here, we describe a tiny in situ fossil epiphyte community that sheds light on plant-animal and plant-plant interactions more than 50 million years ago. Methods A single silicified Todea (Osmundaceae) rhizome from a new locality of the early Eocene (ca. 52 Ma) Tufolitas Laguna del Hunco (Patagonia, Argentina) was studied in serial thin sections using light microscopy. The community of organisms colonizing the tissues of the rhizome was characterized by identifying the organisms and mapping and quantifying their distribution. A 200 × 200 µm grid was superimposed onto the rhizome cross section, and the colonizers present at each node of the grid were tallied. Results Preserved in situ, this community offers a rare window onto aspects of ancient ecosystems usually lost to time and taphonomic processes. The community is surprisingly diverse and includes the first fossilized leafy liverworts in South America, also marking the only fossil record of leafy bryophyte epiphytes outside of amber deposits; as well as several types of fungal hyphae and spores; microsclerotia with possible affinities in several ascomycete families; and evidence for oribatid mites. Discussion The community associated with the Patagonian rhizome enriches our understanding of terrestrial epiphyte communities in the distant past and adds to a growing body of literature on osmundaceous rhizomes as important hosts for component communities in ancient ecosystems, just as they are today. Because osmundaceous rhizomes represent an ecological niche that has remained virtually unchanged over time and space and are abundant in the fossil record, they provide a paleoecological model system that could be used to explore epiphyte community structure through time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander C Bippus
- Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States of America
| | - Ignacio H Escapa
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET), Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew, Argentina
| | - Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States of America
| | - Alexandru M F Tomescu
- Department of Biological Sciences, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA, United States of America
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Wilf P, Nixon KC, Gandolfo MA, Cúneo NR. Eocene Fagaceae from Patagonia and Gondwanan legacy in Asian rainforests. Science 2019; 364:364/6444/eaaw5139. [PMID: 31171664 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw5139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2018] [Accepted: 04/23/2019] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
The beech-oak family Fagaceae dominates forests from the northern temperate zone to tropical Asia and Malesia, where it reaches its southern limit. We report early Eocene infructescences of Castanopsis, a diverse and abundant fagaceous genus of Southeast Asia, and co-occurring leaves from the 52-million-year-old Laguna del Hunco flora of southern Argentina. The fossil assemblage notably includes many plant taxa that associate with Castanopsis today. The discovery reveals novel Gondwanan history in Fagaceae and the characteristic tree communities of Southeast Asian lower-montane rainforests. The living diaspora associations persisted through Cenozoic climate change and plate movements as the constituent lineages tracked post-Gondwanan mesic biomes over thousands of kilometers, underscoring their current vulnerability to rapid climate change and habitat loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
| | - Kevin C Nixon
- Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Maria A Gandolfo
- Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - N Rubén Cúneo
- CONICET, Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, 9100 Trelew, Chubut, Argentina
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Jud NA, Gandolfo MA, Iglesias A, Wilf P. Fossil flowers from the early Palaeocene of Patagonia, Argentina, with affinity to Schizomerieae (Cunoniaceae). ANNALS OF BOTANY 2018; 121:431-442. [PMID: 29309506 PMCID: PMC5838809 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcx173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2017] [Accepted: 11/09/2017] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
Background and Aims Early Palaeocene (Danian) plant fossils from Patagonia provide information on the recovery from the end-Cretaceous extinction and Cenozoic floristic change in South America. Actinomorphic flowers with eight to ten perianth parts are described and evaluated in a phylogenetic framework. The goal of this study is to determine the identity of these fossil flowers and to discuss their evolutionary, palaeoecological and biogeographical significance. Methods More than 100 fossilized flowers were collected from three localities in the Danian Salamanca and Peñas Coloradas Formations in southern Chubut. They were prepared, photographed and compared with similar extant and fossil flowers using published literature and herbarium specimens. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using morphological and molecular data. Key results The fossil flowers share some but not all the synapomorphies that characterize the Schizomerieae, a tribe within Cunoniaceae. These features include the shallow floral cup, variable number of perianth parts arranged in two whorls, laciniate petals, anthers with a connective extension, and a superior ovary with free styles. The number of perianth parts is doubled and the in situ pollen is tricolporate, with a surface more like that of other Cunoniaceae outside Schizomerieae, such as Davidsonia or Weinmannia. Conclusions An extinct genus of crown-group Cunoniaceae is recognized and placed along the stem lineage leading to Schizomerieae. Extant relatives are typical of tropical to southern-temperate rainforests, and these fossils likely indicate a similarly warm and wet temperate palaeoclimate. The oldest reliable occurrences of the family are fossil pollen and wood from the Upper Cretaceous of the Antarctica and Argentina, whereas in Australia the family first occurs in upper Palaeocene deposits. This discovery demonstrates that the family survived the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary event in Patagonia and that diversification of extant lineages in the family was under way by the earliest Cenozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan A Jud
- L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Maria A Gandolfo
- L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Ari Iglesias
- Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Ambiente INIBIOMA-CONICET, San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina
| | - Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
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Wilf P, Donovan MP, Cúneo NR, Gandolfo MA. The fossil flip-leaves (Retrophyllum, Podocarpaceae) of southern South America. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2017; 104:1344-1369. [PMID: 29885237 DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1700158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2017] [Accepted: 08/07/2017] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE OF THE STUDY The flip-leaved podocarp Retrophyllum has a disjunct extant distribution in South American and Australasian tropical rainforests and a Gondwanic fossil record since the Eocene. Evolutionary, biogeographic, and paleoecological insights from previously described fossils are limited because they preserve little foliar variation and no reproductive structures. METHODS We investigated new Retrophyllum material from the terminal Cretaceous Lefipán, the early Eocene Laguna del Hunco, and the early/middle Eocene Río Pichileufú floras of Patagonian Argentina. We also reviewed type material of historical Eocene fossils from southern Chile. KEY RESULTS Cretaceous Retrophyllum superstes sp. nov. is described from a leafy twig, while Eocene R. spiralifolium sp. nov. includes several foliage forms and a peduncle with 13 pollen cones. Both species preserve extensive damage from sap-feeding insects associated with foliar transfusion tissue. The Eocene species exhibits a suite of characters linking it to both Neotropical and West Pacific Retrophyllum, along with several novel features. Retrophyllum araucoensis (Berry) comb. nov. stabilizes the nomenclature for the Chilean fossils. CONCLUSIONS Retrophyllum is considerably older than previously thought and is a survivor of the end-Cretaceous extinction. Much of the characteristic foliar variation and pollen-cone morphology of the genus evolved by the early Eocene. The mixed biogeographic signal of R. spiralifolium supports vicariance and represents a rare Neotropical connection for terminal-Gondwanan Patagonia, which is predominantly linked to extant Australasian floras due to South American extinctions. The leaf morphology of the fossils suggests significant drought vulnerability as in living Retrophyllum, indicating humid paleoenvironments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
| | - Michael P Donovan
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20013, USA
| | - N Rubén Cúneo
- Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Trelew 9100, Chubut, Argentina
| | - María A Gandolfo
- Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
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Jud NA, Gandolfo MA, Iglesias A, Wilf P. Flowering after disaster: Early Danian buckthorn (Rhamnaceae) flowers and leaves from Patagonia. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0176164. [PMID: 28489895 PMCID: PMC5425202 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2016] [Accepted: 03/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Southern-Hemisphere terrestrial communities from the early Paleocene are poorly known, but recent work on Danian plant fossils from the Salamanca Formation in Chubut Province, Argentina are providing critical data on earliest Paleocene floras. The fossils described here come from a site in the Salamanca Formation dating to ca. 1 million years or less after the end-Cretaceous extinction event; they are the first fossil flowers reported from the Danian of South America, and possible the entire Southern Hemisphere. They are compressions and impressions in flat-laminated light gray shale, and they belong to the family Rhamnaceae (buckthorns). Flowers of Notiantha grandensis gen. et sp. nov. are pentamerous, with distinctly keeled calyx lobes projecting from the hypanthium, clawed and cucullate emarginate petals, antepetalous stamens, and a pentagonal floral disk that fills the hypanthium. Their phylogenetic position was evaluated using a molecular scaffold approach combined with morphological data. Results indicate that the flowers are most like those of extant ziziphoid Rhamnaceae. The associated leaves, assigned to Suessenia grandensis gen. et sp. nov. are simple and ovate, with serrate margins and three acrodromous basal veins. They conform to the distinctive leaves of some extant Rhamnaceae in the ziziphoid and ampelozizyphoid clades. These fossils provide the first unequivocal megafossil evidence of Rhamnaceae in the Southern Hemisphere, demonstrating that Rhamnaceae expanded beyond the tropics by the earliest Paleocene. Given previous reports of rhamnaceous pollen in the late Paleogene and Neogene of Antarctica and southern Australia, this new occurrence increases the possibility of high-latitude dispersal of this family between South America and Australia via Antarctica during the Cenozoic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan A. Jud
- L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Maria A. Gandolfo
- L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Ari Iglesias
- Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Ambiente INIBIOMA-CONICET, San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina
| | - Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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Gandolfo MA, Hermsen EJ. Ceratopetalum (Cunoniaceae) fruits of Australasian affinity from the early Eocene Laguna del Hunco flora, Patagonia, Argentina. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2017; 119:507-516. [PMID: 28110267 PMCID: PMC5571373 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcw283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2016] [Accepted: 12/05/2016] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Radially symmetrical, five-winged fossil fruits from the highly diverse early Eocene Laguna del Hunco flora of Chubut Province, Patagonia, Argentina, are named, described and illustrated. The main goals are to assess the affinities of the fossils and to place them in an evolutionary, palaeoecological and biogeographic context. METHODS Specimens of fossil fruits were collected from the Tufolitas Laguna del Hunco. They were prepared, photographed and compared with similar extant and fossil fruits using published literature. Their structure was also evaluated by comparing them with that of modern Ceratopetalum (Cunoniaceae) fruits through examination of herbarium specimens. KEY RESULTS The Laguna del Hunco fossil fruits share the diagnostic features that characterize modern and fossil Ceratopetalum (symmetry, number of fruit wings, presence of a conspicuous floral nectary and overall venation pattern). The pattern of the minor wing (sepal) veins observed in the Patagonian fossil fruits is different from that of modern and previously described fossil Ceratopetalum fruits; therefore, a new fossil species is recognized. An apomorphy (absence of petals) suggests that the fossils belong within crown-group Ceratopetalum . CONCLUSIONS The Patagonian fossil fruits are the oldest known record for Ceratopetalum . Because the affinities, provenance and age of the fossils are so well established, this new Ceratopetalum fossil species is an excellent candidate for use as a calibration point in divergence dating studies of the family Cunoniaceae. It represents the only record of Ceratopetalum outside Australasia, and further corroborates the biogeographic connection between the Laguna del Hunco flora and ancient and modern floras of the Australasian region.
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Affiliation(s)
- María A Gandolfo
- L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Plant Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, 412 Mann Library Building, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Elizabeth J Hermsen
- Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Porter Hall 315, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA
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Wilf P, Escapa IH. Green Web or megabiased clock? Plant fossils from Gondwanan Patagonia speak on evolutionary radiations. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2015; 207:283-290. [PMID: 25441060 DOI: 10.1111/nph.13114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2014] [Accepted: 09/12/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Evolutionary divergence-age estimates derived from molecular 'clocks' are frequently correlated with paleogeographic, paleoclimatic and extinction events. One prominent hypothesis based on molecular data states that the dominant pattern of Southern Hemisphere biogeography is post-Gondwanan clade origins and subsequent dispersal across the oceans in a metaphoric 'Green Web'. We tested this idea against well-dated Patagonian fossils of 19 plant lineages, representing organisms that actually lived on Gondwana. Most of these occurrences are substantially older than their respective, often post-Gondwanan molecular dates. The Green Web interpretation probably results from directional bias in molecular results. Gondwanan history remains fundamental to understanding Southern Hemisphere plant radiations, and we urge significantly greater caution when using molecular dating to interpret the biological impacts of geological events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Ignacio H Escapa
- CONICET, Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Avenida Fontana 140, 9100, Trelew, Chubut, Argentina
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Bomfleur B, Grimm GW, McLoughlin S. Osmunda pulchella sp. nov. from the Jurassic of Sweden--reconciling molecular and fossil evidence in the phylogeny of modern royal ferns (Osmundaceae). BMC Evol Biol 2015; 15:126. [PMID: 26123220 PMCID: PMC4487210 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-015-0400-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2014] [Accepted: 06/01/2015] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The classification of royal ferns (Osmundaceae) has long remained controversial. Recent molecular phylogenies indicate that Osmunda is paraphyletic and needs to be separated into Osmundastrum and Osmunda s.str. Here, however, we describe an exquisitely preserved Jurassic Osmunda rhizome (O. pulchella sp. nov.) that combines diagnostic features of both Osmundastrum and Osmunda, calling molecular evidence for paraphyly into question. We assembled a new morphological matrix based on rhizome anatomy, and used network analyses to establish phylogenetic relationships between fossil and extant members of modern Osmundaceae. We re-analysed the original molecular data to evaluate root-placement support. Finally, we integrated morphological and molecular data-sets using the evolutionary placement algorithm. RESULTS Osmunda pulchella and five additional Jurassic rhizome species show anatomical character suites intermediate between Osmundastrum and Osmunda. Molecular evidence for paraphyly is ambiguous: a previously unrecognized signal from spacer sequences favours an alternative root placement that would resolve Osmunda s.l. as monophyletic. Our evolutionary placement analysis identifies fossil species as probable ancestral members of modern genera and subgenera, which accords with recent evidence from Bayesian dating. CONCLUSIONS Osmunda pulchella is likely a precursor of the Osmundastrum lineage. The recently proposed root placement in Osmundaceae-based solely on molecular data-stems from possibly misinformative outgroup signals in rbcL and atpA genes. We conclude that the seemingly conflicting evidence from morphological, anatomical, molecular, and palaeontological data can instead be elegantly reconciled under the assumption that Osmunda is indeed monophyletic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Bomfleur
- Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Guido W Grimm
- Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden. .,Department of Palaeontology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - Stephen McLoughlin
- Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden.
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Grimm GW, Kapli P, Bomfleur B, McLoughlin S, Renner SS. Using More Than the Oldest Fossils: Dating Osmundaceae with Three Bayesian Clock Approaches. Syst Biol 2014; 64:396-405. [DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syu108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2014] [Accepted: 12/01/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Kooyman RM, Wilf P, Barreda VD, Carpenter RJ, Jordan GJ, Sniderman JMK, Allen A, Brodribb TJ, Crayn D, Feild TS, Laffan SW, Lusk CH, Rossetto M, Weston PH. Paleo-Antarctic rainforest into the modern Old World tropics: the rich past and threatened future of the "southern wet forest survivors". AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2014; 101:2121-2135. [PMID: 25480709 DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1400340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED • PREMISE OF STUDY Have Gondwanan rainforest floral associations survived? Where do they occur today? Have they survived continuously in particular locations? How significant is their living floristic signal? We revisit these classic questions in light of significant recent increases in relevant paleobotanical data.• METHODS We traced the extinction and persistence of lineages and associations through the past across four now separated regions-Australia, New Zealand, Patagonia, and Antarctica-using fossil occurrence data from 63 well-dated Gondwanan rainforest sites and 396 constituent taxa. Fossil sites were allocated to four age groups: Cretaceous, Paleocene-Eocene, Neogene plus Oligocene, and Pleistocene. We compared the modern and ancient distributions of lineages represented in the fossil record to see if dissimilarity increased with time. We quantified similarity-dissimilarity of composition and taxonomic structure among fossil assemblages, and between fossil and modern assemblages.• KEY RESULTS Strong similarities between ancient Patagonia and Australia confirmed shared Gondwanan rainforest history, but more of the lineages persisted in Australia. Samples of ancient Australia grouped with the extant floras of Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Mt. Kinabalu. Decreasing similarity through time among the regional floras of Antarctica, Patagonia, New Zealand, and southern Australia reflects multiple extinction events.• CONCLUSIONS Gondwanan rainforest lineages contribute significantly to modern rainforest community assembly and often co-occur in widely separated assemblages far from their early fossil records. Understanding how and where lineages from ancient Gondwanan assemblages co-occur today has implications for the conservation of global rainforest vegetation, including in the Old World tropics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert M Kooyman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde 2113, Sydney, Australia National Herbarium of NSW, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney 2000, Australia
| | - Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
| | - Viviana D Barreda
- Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, CONICET, División Paleobotánica, Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, C1405DJR Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Raymond J Carpenter
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Benham Bldg DX 650 312, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Gregory J Jordan
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55 Hobart, 7001 Tasmania, Australia
| | - J M Kale Sniderman
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia
| | - Andrew Allen
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde 2113, Sydney, Australia
| | - Timothy J Brodribb
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55 Hobart, 7001 Tasmania, Australia
| | - Darren Crayn
- Australian Tropical Herbarium, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia
| | - Taylor S Feild
- Australian Tropical Herbarium, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia
| | - Shawn W Laffan
- Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington 2052, Sydney, Australia
| | - Christopher H Lusk
- School of Science, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand
| | - Maurizio Rossetto
- National Herbarium of NSW, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney 2000, Australia
| | - Peter H Weston
- National Herbarium of NSW, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Mrs Macquaries Road, Sydney 2000, Australia
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Wilf P, Escapa IH, Cúneo NR, Kooyman RM, Johnson KR, Iglesias A. First South American Agathis (Araucariaceae), Eocene of Patagonia. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY 2014; 101:156-179. [PMID: 24418576 DOI: 10.3732/ajb.1300327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
PREMISE OF THE STUDY Agathis is an iconic genus of large, ecologically important, and economically valuable conifers that range over lowland to upper montane rainforests from New Zealand to Sumatra. Exploitation of its timber and copal has greatly reduced the genus's numbers. The early fossil record of Agathis comes entirely from Australia, often presumed to be its area of origin. Agathis has no previous record from South America. METHODS We describe abundant macrofossils of Agathis vegetative and reproductive organs, from early and middle Eocene rainforest paleofloras of Patagonia, Argentina. The leaves were formerly assigned to the New World cycad genus Zamia. KEY RESULTS Agathis zamunerae sp. nov. is the first South American occurrence and the most complete representation of Agathis in the fossil record. Its morphological features are fully consistent with the living genus. The most similar living species is A. lenticula, endemic to lower montane rainforests of northern Borneo. CONCLUSIONS Agathis zamunerae sp. nov. demonstrates the presence of modern-aspect Agathis by 52.2 mya and vastly increases the early range and possible areas of origin of the genus. The revision from Zamia breaks another link between the Eocene and living floras of South America. Agathis was a dominant, keystone element of the Patagonian Eocene floras, alongside numerous other plant taxa that still associate with it in Australasia and Southeast Asia. Agathis extinction in South America was an integral part of the transformation of Patagonian biomes over millions of years, but the living species are disappearing from their ranges at a far greater rate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Wilf
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 USA
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