An Early Cretaceous Flora 1

The Early Cretaceous Apple Bay flora of Vancouver Island: a hotspot of fossil bryophyte diversity

The pre-Cenozoic bryophyte fossil record is significantly sparser than that of vascular plants or Cenozoic bryophytes. This situation has been traditionally attributed to a hypothesized low preservation potential of the plants. However, instances of excellent pre-Cenozoic bryophyte preservation and the results of experiments simulating fossilization contradict this traditional interpretation, s...

A Cretaceous origin for fire adaptations in the Cape flora

Fire has had a profound effect on the evolution of worldwide biotas. The Cape Floristic Region is one of the world's most species-rich regions, yet it is highly prone to recurrent fires and fire-adapted species contribute strongly to the overall flora. It is hypothesized that the current fire regimes in the Cape could be as old as 6-8 million years (My), while indirect evidence indicates that t...

An Early Cretaceous tribosphenic mammal and metatherian evolution.

Derived features of a new boreosphenidan mammal from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of China suggest that it has a closer relationship to metatherians (including extant marsupials) than to eutherians (including extant placentals). This fossil dates to 125 million years ago and extends the record of marsupial relatives with skeletal remains by 50 million years. It also has many foot struc...

Vegetational composition of the Early Cretaceous Chicalhão flora (Lusitanian Basin, western Portugal) based on palynological and mesofossil assemblages

Early Cretaceous spider web with its prey.

The orb web is a spectacular evolutionary innovation that enables spiders to catch flying prey. This elegant, geometric structure is woven with silk fibers that are renowned for their superior mechanical properties. We used silk gland expression libraries to address a long-standing controversy concerning the evolution of the orb-web architecture. Contrary to the view that the orb-web design evo...