Traditionally, Middle Pleistocene hominin fossils that cannot be allocated to Homo erectus sensu lato or modern H. sapiens have been assigned to different specific taxa. For example, in eastern Asia, these hominin fossils have been classified as archaic, early, or premodern H. sapiens. An increasing number of Middle Pleistocene hominin fossils are currently being assigned to H. heidelbergensis....

Tyloses are protoplasmic swellings of parenchyma cells into the lumen adjacent conducting cells. They develop as part heartwood formation process, or in response to embolism pathogen infection. Here, we report oldest fossil evidence date tylosis that occurs permineralized wood (pro)gymnosperm Dameria hueberi from Tournaisian (lower Mississippian, ca. 350 Ma) Australia. Different developmental s...

The evolutionary history of Eucalyptus and the eucalypts, the larger clade of seven genera including Eucalyptus that today have a natural distribution almost exclusively in Australasia, is poorly documented from the fossil record. Little physical evidence exists bearing on the ancient geographical distributions or morphologies of plants within the clade. Herein, we introduce fossil material of ...

Some Precambrian trace fossils have been presented as evidence for the early origin of bilaterians; the recent finding that large amoeboid protists leave macroscopic traces at the bottom of the deep ocean questions the metazoan nature of early trace fossils, stressing the importance of single-cell organisms in Precambrian biota.

The fossil record of fungi and lichens is scarce. Here we report the discovery of lichen-like fossils, involving filamentous hyphae closely associated with coccoidal cyanobacteria or algae, preserved in marine phosphorite of the Doushantuo Formation (between 551 and 635 million years old) at Weng'an, South China. These fossils indicate that fungi developed symbiotic partnerships with photoautot...

How to tell time: • Relative Time: putting events in time order. • Law of Superposition • Correlation of rock layers using fossils. William Smith " There is a wonderful order and regularity with which nature has disposed of fossils and assigned to each its peculiar stratum. " How to tell time: • Absolute Time: Determining age in years.

Over the last decade we have come to appreciate that there are close relationships between all “higher” organisms and communities of microbes. The human microbiome and its role in human metabolism and health, is being widely investigated. In a similar way, plant-associated microbial communities are now coming under scrutiny. Plants have probably had associated microbes since they colonized the ...