Flowers evolved 100 million years earlier than thought, plant pollen fossils reveal
Source: Science Recorder
Flowers evolved 100 million years earlier than thought, plant pollen fossils reveal
Science Recorder | Jonathan Marker | Wednesday, October 02, 2013
An October 1 news release from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, announced the discovery of plant-like pollens that are over 100 million years older than the 140 million year-old uninterrupted sequence of fossilized pollen from flowers. It is around this time in the Early Cretaceous that scientists generally believe that flowering plants first evolved. However, the latest study documents flowering plant-like pollen that may have originated in the Early Triassic, some 252 to 247 million years ago.
Flowering plants evolved from the extinct relatives of conifers, ginkgos, cycads, and seed ferns. The most ancient flowering plant fossils known are pollen grains. These small, hearty, and plentiful remnants of ancient flowers fossilize more than other parts.
Although a considerable number of studies have attempted to estimate the age of flowering plants from molecular data, no consensus has been reached thus far. Generally, depending on the dataset and method of analysis, estimates range from the Triassic to the Cretaceous.
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