A Jurassic wood providing insights into the earliest step in Ginkgo wood evolution

Zikun Jiang; Yongdong Wang; Marc Philippe; Wu Zhang; Ning Tian; Shaolin Zheng

doi:10.1038/srep38191

A Jurassic wood providing insights into the earliest step in Ginkgo wood evolution

Sci Rep. 2016 Dec 16:6:38191. doi: 10.1038/srep38191.

Authors

Zikun Jiang¹, Yongdong Wang², Marc Philippe³, Wu Zhang⁴, Ning Tian⁵, Shaolin Zheng⁴

Affiliations

¹ Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology &Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
³ UMR 5023 of the CNRS and Université Lyon 1, 7 rue Dubois, F69622 Villeurbanne, France.
⁴ Shenyang Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Shenyang, 110034, China.
⁵ College of Palaeontology, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, 110034, China.

Abstract

The fossil record of Ginkgo leaf and reproductive organs has been well dated to the Mid-Jurassic (170 Myr). However, the fossil wood record that can safely be assigned to Ginkgoales has not yet been reported from strata predating the late Early Cretaceous (ca. 100 Myr). Here, we report a new fossil wood from the Mid-Late Jurassic transition deposit (153-165 Myr) of northeastern China. The new fossil wood specimen displays several Ginkgo features, including inflated axial parenchyma and intrusive tracheid tips. Because it is only slightly younger than the oldest recorded Ginkgo reproductive organs (the Yima Formation, 170 Myr), this fossil wood very probably represents the oldest bona fide fossil Ginkgo wood and the missing ancestral form of Ginkgo wood evolution.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biological Evolution*
China
Fossils*
Ginkgo biloba / anatomy & histology*
Ginkgo biloba / physiology*
Wood*