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Abstract Detail



Paleobotany

Huegele, Indah [1], Manchester, Steven [2].

Can old fossils still cut the mustard?—exploring the paleobotanical record of Brassicaceae and related families.

The mustard family, Brassicaceae, is a large and economically important plant family of the order Brassicales. Its distinctive reproductive morphology makes it easy to identify. However, most of its genera are ephemeral herbs and the fossil record for this family is scarce. Here, we review the fossil record of Brassicaceae and evaluate which members are contentious and which members can be accepted with confidence. Most fossils of this family are known from fruit material. Brassicaceae fruits are typically derived from bicarpellate, syncarpous, superior, ovaries with one to many ovules with folded embryos. Locules are divided by a false septum (replum), and the fruits may take the form of capsules, berries, or even samaras. Brassicaceous fossil fruits include Bunias sukaczevii (Nikitin) Kipiani from the Pleistocene of the Caspian Sea region, and Thlaspi primaevum Becker from the Oligocene of Montana. We also introduce a newly recognized possible brassicaceous fruit from the Paleocene of Montana, which has bicarpellate fruits with strongly curved seeds that conform with the family. Other possible brassicalean fossils include seeds related to the Cleomaceae, such as Cleome rugosa (Reid) Dorof. from the Miocene of France, several species of Polanisia Raphe. from the Eocene, Oligocene, and Miocene of Russia, and at least a dozen species corresponding to the Cleome-like fossil genus Meloke Arbuzova et Nikitin from the Tertiary of Russia. The bicarpellate, silique-like fruits of Carpolithus scalariformis Reid et Chandler from the early Eocene London Clay and the middle Eocene Green River Formation of Colorado may represent an extinct brassicalean species that does not conform to living families. Fossil taxa may not always align with extant families; for example, some of these fossils may conform to the order Brassicales even if they do not conform to the family Brassicaceae. Divergence estimates for the Brassicales and for the Brassicaceae have varied in different phylogenetic investigations depending partly on the fossils selected for callibration. The records reviewed here suggest that the order Brassicales, and possibly the family Brassicaceae, were established by the Paleocene, and that some modern genera were recognizable by the Oligocene. This is consistent with the relatively young origins of crown clades within the family.


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1 - University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, 1659 Museum Rd, Gainesville, FL 32611, United States, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
2 - Florida Museum of Natural History, 1659 Museum Rd, Gainesville, FL 32611, United States, Gainesville, FL, 32611, United States

Keywords:
Systematics
Brassicales
Cleomaceae
Capparaceae.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: PL7, Paleobotany: Mesozoic/Cenozoic Paleobotany
Location: /
Date: Thursday, July 22nd, 2021
Time: 1:45 PM(EDT)
Number: PL7006
Abstract ID:701
Candidate for Awards:None


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