Journal
CRETACEOUS RESEARCH
Volume 143, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105417
Keywords
Polypod ferns; Dennstaedtiaceae; Microlepia; Cretaceous; Kachin amber; New species
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Researchers have discovered a fossilized fern with fertile pinnae preserved in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, which has been assigned to the genus Microlepia and named Microlepia burmasia. This finding adds to the diversity of polypod ferns in the Cretaceous and dates the origin of Microlepia to at least 60 million years earlier, coinciding with the rise of angiosperms.
The rise of angiosperms during the Cretaceous was thought to be related to the radiation of polypod ferns, a fern lineage that represent 80% of the modern fern diversity. However, although the proposed palo-diversity from DNA based studies, Mesozoic polypod fern fossils with preserved fertile pinnae are scarcely. Here, we investigated the fragment of polypod fern preserved in mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber from northern Myanmar and assigned a new fossilized fertile pinnule into the genus Microlepia (Dennstaedtiaceae), described as Microlepia burmasia Long, Wang and Shi, sp. nov. The new species is mainly characterized by the 2-pinnate-pinnatifid pinnule with surface and margin covering short tomentum and articulate hairs. Vein free, pouch-shaped indusia, submarginal and terminal on one vein of sori, sporangium with interrupted, vertical annulus and spores trilete. This discovery adds to polypod fern diversity in the Cretaceous and dates the origin of Microlepia to at least 60 million years earlier, which is evidence for an early origin of polypod ferns and coincides with the rise of angiosperms.(c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available