化石花CT数据

A case in point is the interpretation of 100-million-year (My) old material in Kachin (Myanmar) amber that has been variously identified as an alga (Poinar and Brown, 2021), conifer (Bolotov et al., 2021) and then as an inflorescence of Eophylica, a fossil genus in the advanced eudicot family, Rhamnaceae (Shi et al. 2022). Using a 3D, colour-assignment CT technique, Beurel et al. (2024) showed that the floral structure of the related, Phylica piloburmensis, of similar age, was much more complex than Shi et al. (2022) initially believed. They proposed that this fossil was not even a eudicot (‘tricolporate’) and more likely affiliated with the basal magnoliid order, Laurales. They therefore transferred the fossil to a new genus, Nothophylica. By contrast, using anatomical sections of an extant Phylica, Oskoloski et al. (2024) were satisfied that it was a member of the Rhamnaceae, but not in the advanced clade, Phylica. We have re-examined the specimens of Nothophylica piloburmensis at a level of detail usually only possible for intact organisms, and compared them with a wide range of extant and fossil taxa. In light of the new details, we agree that it does not meet the criteria necessary for assignment to the modern Rhamnaceae, but a strong relationship with this family remains. This taxon represents an extinct stem group to the Rhamnaceae, encompassing a unique suite of symplesiomorphies as the most recent, common ancestor of this now-cosmopolitan family.