Abstract Detail

Macroevolution

López Martínez, Andrea Monserrath [1], Magallon, Susana [1], Jürg, Schönenberger [2], von Balthazar, Maria [3], Gonzalez Martinez, Cesar [4], Ramírez-Barahona, Santiago [4], Sauquet, Hervé [5].

Integrating fossil flowers into a large-scale angiosperm phylogeny using model-based approaches.

Fossil flowers provide an invaluable source of information about the morphological evolution of angiosperms through time. The paleontological discovery and study of fossil flowers, together with novel techniques to observe them have provided the opportunity to obtain detailed morphological data from fossils, comparable to that obtained from extant species. The systematic placement of fossil flowers has traditionally relied on morphological similarity and identification of apomorphies but explicit phylogenetic investigations have remained limited, possibly due to the lack of suitable morphological data sets for extant taxa. We will present some preliminary results from phylogenetic analyses of 24 extraordinarily well-preserved fossil flowers using a broad angiosperm framework that includes representatives of stem and crown nodes of all angiosperm families. We integrated information of seven molecular markers, and 30 floral characters for 1201 extant species and 24 fossil flowers. We implemented both parsimony and model-based methods to estimate the placement and the associated uncertainty using two approaches: 1) molecular backbone (“phyloscan”) analyses constraining the topology of extant species, and 2) total-evidence (supermatrix) analyses. Our results indicate that the placement of some fossils is in agreement with previously suggested affinities, but for others, a new placement is retrieved. Additionally, we identified fossils that are well constrained within extant families, whereas others show high phylogenetic uncertainty that is neither associated with the number of scored characters nor with the method of phylogenetic analysis. Finally, we will present some perspectives, specifically about the incorporation of fossils into the investigation of divergence times and temporal evolution of floral traits.

Related Links:
eFLOWER website

1 - Instituto de Biologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, 04510
2 - University Of Vienna, Department Of Botany And Biodiversity Research, Rennweg 14, Vienna, 9, AT-1030, Austria
3 - Department Of Botany And Biodiversity Research, Division Of Systematic And Evolutionary Botany, Rennweg 14, Vienna, 9, A-1030, Austria
4 - Instituto de Biologia, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, 04510
5 - Instituto de Biologia, Circuito Exterior, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, 04510, Mexico

Keywords:
fossil flowers
phylogenetic analysis
floral morphology
total evidence.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: MACROII, Macroevolution II
Location: Virtual/Virtual
Date: Thursday, July 22nd, 2021
Time: 1:45 PM(EDT)
Number: MACROII006
Abstract ID:674
Candidate for Awards:None