Parallel evolution of angiosperm-like venation in Peltaspermales: a reinvestigation of Furcula.

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.

Metapopulation Vicariance, Age of Island Taxa and Dispersal: A Case Study Using the Pacific Plant Genus Planchonella (Sapotaceae).

Oceanic islands originate from volcanism or tectonic activity without connections to continental landmasses, are colonized by organisms, and eventually vanish due to erosion and subsidence. Colonization of oceanic islands occurs through long-distance dispersals (LDDs) or metapopulation vicariance, the latter resulting in lineages being older than the islands they inhabit. If metapopulation vicariance is valid, island ages cannot be reliably used to provide maximum age constraints for molecular dating. We explore the relationships between the ages of members of a widespread plant genus (Planchonella, Sapotaceae) and their host islands across the Pacific to test various assumptions of dispersal and metapopulation vicariance. We sampled three nuclear DNA markers from 156 accessions representing some 100 Sapotaceae taxa, and analyzed these in BEAST with a relaxed clock to estimate divergence times and with a phylogeographic diffusion model to estimate range expansions over time. The phylogeny was calibrated with a secondary point (the root) and fossils from New Zealand. The dated phylogeny reveals that the ages of Planchonella species are, in most cases, consistent with the ages of the islands they inhabit. Planchonella is inferred to have originated in the Sahul Shelf region, to which it back-dispersed multiple times. Fiji has been an important source for range expansion in the Pacific for the past 23 myr. Our analyses reject metapopulation vicariance in all cases tested, including between oceanic islands, evolution of an endemic Fiji-Vanuatu flora, and westward rollback vicariance between Vanuatu and the Loyalty Islands. Repeated dispersal is the only mechanism able to explain the empirical data. The longest (8900 km) identified dispersal is between Palau in the Pacific and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, estimated at 2.2 Ma (0.4-4.8 Ma). The first split in a Hawaiian lineage (P. sandwicensis) matches the age of Necker Island (11.0 Ma), when its ancestor diverged into two species that are distinguished by purple and yellow fruits. Subsequent establishment across the Hawaiian archipelago supports, in part, progression rule colonization. In summary, we found no explanatory power in metapopulation vicariance and conclude that Planchonella has expanded its range across the Pacific by LDD. We contend that this will be seen in many other groups when analyzed in detail.

Using more than the oldest fossils: dating osmundaceae with three Bayesian clock approaches.

A major concern in molecular clock dating is how to use information from the fossil record to calibrate genetic distances from DNA sequences. Here we apply three Bayesian dating methods that differ in how calibration is achieved-"node dating" (ND) in BEAST, "total evidence" (TE) dating in MrBayes, and the "fossilized birth-death" (FBD) in FDPPDiv-to infer divergence times in the royal ferns. Osmundaceae have 16-17 species in four genera, two mainly in the Northern Hemisphere and two in South Africa and Australasia; they are the sister clade to the remaining leptosporangiate ferns. Their fossil record consists of at least 150 species in ∼17 genera. For ND, we used the five oldest fossils, whereas for TE and FBD dating, which do not require forcing fossils to nodes and thus can use more fossils, we included up to 36 rhizomes and frond compression/impression fossils, which for TE dating were scored for 33 morphological characters. We also subsampled 10%, 25%, and 50% of the 36 fossils to assess model sensitivity. FBD-derived divergence ages were generally greater than those inferred from ND; two of seven TE-derived ages agreed with FBD-obtained ages, the others were much younger or much older than ND or FBD ages. We prefer the FBD-derived ages because they best fit the Osmundales fossil record (including Triassic fossils not used in our study). Under the preferred model, the clade encompassing extant Osmundaceae (and many fossils) dates to the latest Paleozoic to Early Triassic; divergences of the extant species occurred during the Neogene. Under the assumption of constant speciation and extinction rates, the FBD approach yielded speciation and extinction rates that overlapped those obtained from just neontological data. However, FBD estimates of speciation and extinction are sensitive to violations in the assumption of continuous fossil sampling; therefore, these estimates should be treated with caution.

Osmunda pulchella sp. nov. from the Jurassic of Sweden--reconciling molecular and fossil evidence in the phylogeny of modern royal ferns (Osmundaceae).

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.

Fossilized spermatozoa preserved in a 50-Myr-old annelid cocoon from Antarctica.

The origin and evolution of clitellate annelids--earthworms, leeches and their relatives--is poorly understood, partly because body fossils of these delicate organisms are exceedingly rare. The distinctive egg cases (cocoons) of Clitellata, however, are relatively common in the fossil record, although their potential for phylogenetic studies has remained largely unexplored. Here, we report the remarkable discovery of fossilized spermatozoa preserved within the secreted wall layers of a 50-Myr-old clitellate cocoon from Antarctica, representing the oldest fossil animal sperm yet known. Sperm characters are highly informative for the classification of extant Annelida. The Antarctic fossil spermatozoa have several features that point to affinities with the peculiar, leech-like 'crayfish worms' (Branchiobdellida). We anticipate that systematic surveys of cocoon fossils coupled with advances in non-destructive analytical methods may open a new window into the evolution of minute, soft-bodied life forms that are otherwise only rarely observed in the fossil record.

Early evidence of xeromorphy in angiosperms: stomatal encryption in a new eocene species of Banksia (Proteaceae) from Western Australia.

UNLABELLED: • PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Globally, the origins of xeromorphic traits in modern angiosperm lineages are obscure but are thought to be linked to the early Neogene onset of seasonally arid climates. Stomatal encryption is a xeromorphic trait that is prominent in Banksia, an archetypal genus centered in one of the world's most diverse ecosystems, the ancient infertile landscape of Mediterranean-climate southwestern Australia.• METHODS: We describe Banksia paleocrypta, a sclerophyllous species with encrypted stomata from silcretes of the Walebing and Kojonup regions of southwestern Australia dated as Late Eocene.• KEY RESULTS: Banksia paleocrypta shows evidence of foliar xeromorphy ∼20 Ma before the widely accepted timing for the onset of aridity in Australia. Species of Banksia subgenus Banksia with very similar leaves are extant in southwestern Australia. The conditions required for silcrete formation infer fluctuating water tables and climatic seasonality in southwestern Australia in the Eocene, and seasonality is supported by the paucity of angiosperm closed-forest elements among the fossil taxa preserved with B. paleocrypta. However, climates in the region during the Eocene are unlikely to have experienced seasons as hot and dry as present-day summers.• CONCLUSIONS: The presence of B. paleocrypta within the center of diversity of subgenus Banksia in edaphically ancient southwestern Australia is consistent with the continuous presence of this lineage in the region for ≥40 Ma, a testament to the success of increasingly xeromorphic traits in Banksia over an interval in which numerous other lineages became extinct.

Earliest evidence of granivory from China (Shanxi Formation) points to seeds as a food source and nursing habitat for insects in the earliest Permian humid tropical forests of Cathaysia.

Three types of plant-insect interactions are identified on seeds from the lower Permian (Asselian) Shanxi and lower Shihhotse formations of the Taiyuan district, North China. This enhances the relatively meagre fossil record of seed predation in global late Paleozoic floras, adding the earliest record of granivory from Cathaysia. The dispersed seeds cannot be attributed with confidence to any particular plant group, but associated fossil leaves belong to a broad spectrum of plants, including Medullosales, Cycadales, Noeggerathiales, Gigantopteridales, Cordaitales, and Voltziales. Among 85 analysed seeds, six showed evidence of predation, referable to three damage types: DT074 and two new damage types that will be added to the forthcoming version of the fossil damage guide (DT274, DT430). These damage features indicate novel strategies of seed exploitation in the earliest Permian of China. The causal agents of the seed herbivory are difficult to resolve with certainty, but possible culprits include representatives of Palaeodictyopteroidea, although we cannot exclude other groups, such as Dictyoptera, Odonatoptera, Archaeorthoptera, Hemipteroidea or early holometabolan insects. The presence of damage features, together with a range of probable defensive structures (hairs, spines, apical horns, and thick integuments), suggests that an active arms race involving insects and plant reproductive structures was already well established by the early Permian.

Are brake response times altered post CT-guided cervical spine nerve root injections?

OBJECTIVES: To assess if brake response times are altered pre and post CT-guided cervical spine nerve root injections. METHODS: Brake response times were assessed before and after CT-guided cervical spine nerve root injections in a cohort of patients. The average of 3 brake response times was recorded before and 30 min after injection. Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad. A paired Student t-test was used to compare the times before and after the injections. RESULTS: Forty patients were included in this study. The mean age was 55 years. There were 17 male and 23 female patients. There was no significant difference in the mean pre and post CT-guided cervical spine nerve root injection brake response times; 0.94 s (range 0.4-1.2 s) and 0.93 s (range 0.5-1.25 s), respectively (P = .77). CONCLUSIONS: Brake response time did not significantly differ pre and 30 min post CT-guided cervical spine nerve root injections. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: To the authors' best knowledge, there are no current studies assessing brake response times post CT-guided cervical spine nerve root injections. While driving safety cannot be proven by a single metric, it is a useful study in demonstrating that this is not inhibited in a cohort of patients.

New species of Kuqaia from the Lower Jurassic of Sweden indicates a possible water flea (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) affinity.

The enigmatic acid-resistant mesofossil genus Kuqaia is emended, a new species (Kuqaia scanicus) is instituted, and three established species are described from the Lower Jurassic (lower Pliensbachian) of the Kävlinge BH-928 core, in southern Sweden. Kuqaia has a distribution across the middle northern latitudes of Pangaea and is restricted to Lower to lower Middle Jurassic strata. Morphological characters support Kuqaia being the ephippia (resting egg/embryo cases) of Cladocera (Crustacea: Branchiopoda), and a probable early stem-group taxon of the Daphnia lineage. The paleoecology of the small planktonic crustaceans indicate purely fresh-water environments, such as lakes or ponds, all occurrences being in continental deposits, and the Kuqaia specimens possibly represent dry-season resting eggs. Chemical analyses of these and similar fossils, and of extant invertebrate eggs and egg cases are recommended to improve resolution of the biological affiliations of such mesofossil groups.

Specialized herbivory in fossil leaves reveals convergent origins of nyctinasty.

Plants can move in various complex ways in response to external stimuli.1,2 These mechanisms include responses to environmental triggers, such as tropic responses to light or gravity and nastic responses to humidity or contact.3 Nyctinasty, the movements involving circadian rhythmic folding at night and opening at daytime of plant leaves or leaflets, has attracted the attention of scientists and the public for centuries.4,5 In his canonical work entitled The Power of Movement in Plants, Charles Darwin carried out pioneering observations to document the diverse range of movements in plants.6 His systematic examination of plants showing "sleep [folding] movements of leaves" led him to conclude that the legume family (Fabaceae) includes many more nyctinastic species than all other families combined.3 Darwin also found that a specialized motor organ, the pulvinus, is responsible for most sleep movements of plant leaves, although differential cell division and the hydrolysis of glycosides and phyllanthurinolactone also facilitate nyctinasty in some plants.7,8 However, the origin, evolutionary history, and functional benefits of foliar sleep movements remain ambiguous owing to the lack of fossil evidence for this process. Here, we document the first fossil evidence of foliar nyctinasty based on a symmetrical style of insect feeding damage (Folifenestra symmetrica isp. nov.) in gigantopterid seed-plant leaves from the upper Permian (∼259-252 Ma) of China. The pattern of insect damage indicates that the host leaves were attacked when mature but folded. Our finding reveals that foliar nyctinasty extends back to the late Paleozoic and evolved independently among various plant lineages.

Parallel evolution of angiosperm colour signals: common evolutionary pressures linked to hymenopteran vision.

Flowering plants in Australia have been geographically isolated for more than 34 million years. In the Northern Hemisphere, previous work has revealed a close fit between the optimal discrimination capabilities of hymenopteran pollinators and the flower colours that have most frequently evolved. We collected spectral data from 111 Australian native flowers and tested signal appearance considering the colour discrimination capabilities of potentially important pollinators. The highest frequency of flower reflectance curves is consistent with data reported for the Northern Hemisphere. The subsequent mapping of Australian flower reflectances into a bee colour space reveals a very similar distribution of flower colour evolution to the Northern Hemisphere. Thus, flowering plants in Australia are likely to have independently evolved spectral signals that maximize colour discrimination by hymenoptera. Moreover, we found that the degree of variability in flower coloration for particular angiosperm species matched the range of reflectance colours that can only be discriminated by bees that have experienced differential conditioning. This observation suggests a requirement for plasticity in the nervous systems of pollinators to allow generalization of flowers of the same species while overcoming the possible presence of non-rewarding flower mimics.

Nurse logs: A common seedling strategy in the Permian Cathaysian flora.

Nurse logs are common in modern forests from boreal to temperate and tropical ecosystems. However, the evolution of the nurse-log strategy remains elusive because of their rare occurrence in the fossil record. We report seven coniferous nurse logs from lowermost to uppermost Permian strata of northern China that have been colonized by conifer and sphenophyllalean roots. These roots are associated with two types of arthropod coprolites and fungal remains. Our study provides the first glimpse into plant-plant facilitative relationships between late Paleozoic gymnosperms and sphenopsids. Detritivorous arthropods and fungi appear to have been crucial for the utilization of nurse logs in Permian forests. The phylogenetically distant roots demonstrate that nurse-log interaction was a sophisticated seedling strategy in late Paleozoic humid tropical forests, and this approach may have been adopted and developed by a succession of plant groups leading to its wide representation in modern forest ecosystems.

Lethal microbial blooms delayed freshwater ecosystem recovery following the end-Permian extinction.

Harmful algal and bacterial blooms linked to deforestation, soil loss and global warming are increasingly frequent in lakes and rivers. We demonstrate that climate changes and deforestation can drive recurrent microbial blooms, inhibiting the recovery of freshwater ecosystems for hundreds of millennia. From the stratigraphic successions of the Sydney Basin, Australia, our fossil, sedimentary and geochemical data reveal bloom events following forest ecosystem collapse during the most severe mass extinction in Earth's history, the end-Permian event (EPE; c. 252.2 Ma). Microbial communities proliferated in lowland fresh and brackish waterbodies, with algal concentrations typical of modern blooms. These initiated before any trace of post-extinction recovery vegetation but recurred episodically for >100 kyrs. During the following 3 Myrs, algae and bacteria thrived within short-lived, poorly-oxygenated, and likely toxic lakes and rivers. Comparisons to global deep-time records indicate that microbial blooms are persistent freshwater ecological stressors during warming-driven extinction events.

Complementary approaches to tooth wear analysis in Tritylodontidae (Synapsida, Mammaliamorpha) reveal a generalist diet.

Stereoscopic microwear and 3D surface texture analyses on the cheek teeth of ten Upper Triassic to Lower Cretaceous tritylodontid (Mammaliamorpha) taxa of small/medium to large body size suggest that all were generalist feeders and none was a dietary specialist adapted to herbivory. There was no correspondence between body size and food choice. Stereomicroscopic microwear analysis revealed predominantly fine wear features with numerous small pits and less abundant fine scratches as principal components. Almost all analyzed facets bear some coarser microwear features, such as coarse scratches, large pits, puncture pits and gouges pointing to episodic feeding on harder food items or exogenous effects (contamination of food with soil grit and/or dust), or both. 3D surface texture analysis indicates predominantly fine features with large void volume, low peak densities, and various stages of roundness of the peaks. We interpret these features to indicate consumption of food items with low to moderate intrinsic abrasiveness and can exclude regular rooting, digging or caching behavior. Possible food items include plant vegetative parts, plant reproductive structures (seeds and seed-bearing organs), and invertebrates (i.e., insects). Although the tritylodontid tooth morphology and auto-occlusion suggest plants as the primary food resource, our results imply a wider dietary range including animal matter.

Age and pattern of the southern high-latitude continental end-Permian extinction constrained by multiproxy analysis.

Past studies of the end-Permian extinction (EPE), the largest biotic crisis of the Phanerozoic, have not resolved the timing of events in southern high-latitudes. Here we use palynology coupled with high-precision CA-ID-TIMS dating of euhedral zircons from continental sequences of the Sydney Basin, Australia, to show that the collapse of the austral Permian Glossopteris flora occurred prior to 252.3 Ma (~370 kyrs before the main marine extinction). Weathering proxies indicate that floristic changes occurred during a brief climate perturbation in a regional alluvial landscape that otherwise experienced insubstantial change in fluvial style, insignificant reorganization of the depositional surface, and no abrupt aridification. Palaeoclimate modelling suggests a moderate shift to warmer summer temperatures and amplified seasonality in temperature across the EPE, and warmer and wetter conditions for all seasons into the Early Triassic. The terrestrial EPE and a succeeding peak in Ni concentration in the Sydney Basin correlate, respectively, to the onset of the primary extrusive and intrusive phases of the Siberian Traps Large Igneous Province.

The fossil Osmundales (Royal Ferns)-a phylogenetic network analysis, revised taxonomy, and evolutionary classification of anatomically preserved trunks and rhizomes.

The Osmundales (Royal Fern order) originated in the late Paleozoic and is the most ancient surviving lineage of leptosporangiate ferns. In contrast to its low diversity today (less than 20 species in six genera), it has the richest fossil record of any extant group of ferns. The structurally preserved trunks and rhizomes alone are referable to more than 100 fossil species that are classified in up to 20 genera, four subfamilies, and two families. This diverse fossil record constitutes an exceptional source of information on the evolutionary history of the group from the Permian to the present. However, inconsistent terminology, varying formats of description, and the general lack of a uniform taxonomic concept renders this wealth of information poorly accessible. To this end, we provide a comprehensive review of the diversity of structural features of osmundalean axes under a standardized, descriptive terminology. A novel morphological character matrix with 45 anatomical characters scored for 15 extant species and for 114 fossil operational units (species or specimens) is analysed using networks in order to establish systematic relationships among fossil and extant Osmundales rooted in axis anatomy. The results lead us to propose an evolutionary classification for fossil Osmundales and a revised, standardized taxonomy for all taxa down to the rank of (sub)genus. We introduce several nomenclatural novelties: (1) a new subfamily Itopsidemoideae (Guaireaceae) is established to contain Itopsidema, Donwelliacaulis, and Tiania; (2) the thamnopteroid genera Zalesskya, Iegosigopteris, and Petcheropteris are all considered synonymous with Thamnopteris; (3) 12 species of Millerocaulis and Ashicaulis are assigned to modern genera (tribe Osmundeae); (4) the hitherto enigmatic Aurealcaulis is identified as an extinct subgenus of Plenasium; and (5) the poorly known Osmundites tuhajkulensis is assigned to Millerocaulis. In addition, we consider Millerocaulis stipabonettiorum a possible member of Palaeosmunda and Millerocaulis estipularis as probably constituting the earliest representative of the (Todea-)Leptopteris lineage (subtribe Todeinae) of modern Osmundoideae.

Molecular signatures of fossil leaves provide unexpected new evidence for extinct plant relationships.

Gene sequences form the primary basis for understanding the relationships among extant plant groups, but genetic data are unavailable from fossils to evaluate the affinities of extinct taxa. Here we show that geothermally resistant fossil cuticles of seed-bearing plants, analysed with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), retain biomolecular suites that consistently distinguish major taxa even after experiencing different diagenetic histories. Our results reveal that similarities between the cuticular biochemical signatures of major plant groups (extant and fossil) are mostly consistent with recent phylogenetic hypotheses based on molecular and morphological data. Our novel chemotaxonomic data also support the hypothesis that the extinct Nilssoniales and Bennettitales are closely allied, but only distantly related to Cycadales. The chemical signature of the cuticle of Czekanowskia (Leptostrobales) is strongly similar to that of Ginkgo leaves and supports a close evolutionary relationship between these groups. Finally, our results also reveal that the extinct putative araucariacean, Allocladus, when analysed through HCA, is grouped closer to Ginkgoales than to conifers. Thus, in the absence of modern relatives yielding molecular information, FTIR spectroscopy provides valuable proxy biochemical data complementing morphological characters to distinguish fossil taxa and to help elucidate extinct plant relationships.

Fossilized nuclei and chromosomes reveal 180 million years of genomic stasis in royal ferns.

Rapidly permineralized fossils can provide exceptional insights into the evolution of life over geological time. Here, we present an exquisitely preserved, calcified stem of a royal fern (Osmundaceae) from Early Jurassic lahar deposits of Sweden in which authigenic mineral precipitation from hydrothermal brines occurred so rapidly that it preserved cytoplasm, cytosol granules, nuclei, and even chromosomes in various stages of cell division. Morphometric parameters of interphase nuclei match those of extant Osmundaceae, indicating that the genome size of these reputed "living fossils" has remained unchanged over at least 180 million years-a paramount example of evolutionary stasis.