Create your own conference schedule! Click here for full instructions

Abstract Detail



Pteridology

Sundue, Michael A [1], Poinar, George O. [2].

An extinct grammitid fern genus from Dominican amber, with revision of Grammitis succinea.

Recent discoveries of fossils in amber are rapidly changing our understanding of the pace of fern evolution. We report the second record of a grammitid fern from Tertiary Dominican amber. The fossil comprises a single fertile pinna with excellent preservation, thus allowing a clear view of unaltered morphological characters. Venation, indument, and sori match the protologue of the previously described species from Dominican amber, Grammitis succinea L. D. Gómez, so we assign our fossil to that species. Characters of both specimens of G. succinea are sufficient to place it within the grammitid clade of the Polypodiaceae. However, it does not agree with Grammitis as it is currently circumscribed. We explore possible relationships between the fossil and other extant grammitid genera through Principal Coordinates Ordination (PCOa) of 109 morphological characters and through phylogenetic analysis of combined morphological and plastid DNA sequence data. Character combinations found in the fossil are inconsistent with those of any extant genus and our PCOa analysis did not suggest a clear affinity with any extant genus. This uncertainty is also reflected in the results of our phylogenetic analyses, which find multiple most-parsimonious positions for the fossil within the grammitid clade. Based on these results, we suggest that the fossil belongs to an early divergent lineage of grammitid ferns, and cannot be assigned to any extant genus. Consequently, we place both specimens in a newly described fossil genus, and make a new combination for G. succinea within it. Discovery of extinct lineages not attributable to any modern genus from Oligocene-Miocene deposits is important because it demonstrates that extinction has occurred even among these relatively young lineages.


Log in to add this item to your schedule

1 - 111 Jeffords Hall, 63 Carrigan Dr., Burlington, VT, 05405, USA
2 - Oregon State University, Department of Integrative Zoology, Corvallis, OR, 97331

Keywords:
fossil
extinction
principal coordinates
morphology.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 7, Pteridological Section/AFS
Location: 203/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 1st, 2016
Time: 10:30 AM
Number: 7009
Abstract ID:650
Candidate for Awards:Edgar T. Wherry award


Copyright © 2000-2016, Botanical Society of America. All rights reserved