Researchers report exceptionally well-preserved fossil tree trunks approximately 374 million years old from Xinjiang, Northwest China. These fossils suggest that earth’s earliest forest trees were able to achieve great size by a unique method that involved building a hollow cylindrical skeleton of interconnected, growing, woody strands that both tore itself apart and collapsed under its own weight in a controlled manner as the tree’s diameter expanded. The evolution of trees and forests in the Middle to Late Devonian Period, 393–359 million years ago, profoundly transformed the terrestrial environment and atmosphere. The oldest fossil trees belong to the class Cladoxylopsida. In general, their water-conducting system was a ring of hundreds of individual strands of xylem (water-conducting cells) that were interconnected in many places. However, how these structures grew and how the trees became tall enough to make a forest are still unclear. Researchers from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), Cardiff University (UK) and the State University of New York at Binghamton (USA) report exceptionally well-preserved fossil tree trunks approximately 374 million years old from Xinjiang, Northwest China. These fossils suggest that earth’s earliest forest trees were able to achieve great size by a unique method that involved building a hollow cylindrical skeleton of interconnected, growing, woody strands that both tore itself apart and collapsed under its own weight in a controlled manner as the tree’s diameter expanded. The finding was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on Oct. 23. Cladoxylopsida included the earliest large trees that formed critical components of globally transformative pioneering forest ecosystems in the Middle and early Late Devonian (ca. 393–372 Ma). Well-known cladoxylopsid fossils include the up to ～1-m-diameter sandstone casts known from Middle Devonian strata in New York State. The cladoxylopsid trunk structure comprised a more or less distinct cylinder of numerous separate cauline xylem strands connected internally with a network of medullary xylem strands and, near the base, externally with downward-growing roots, all embedded within parenchyma. However, the means by which this complex vascular system was able to grow to a large diameter is unknown. In this research, a team of scientists led by Dr. XU Honghe from NIGPAS carried out a theoretical study on how earliest trees grow, based on exceptional, up to ～70-cm diameter silicified fossil trunks with extensive preservation of cellular anatomy from the early Late Devonian (Frasnian, ca. 374 Ma) in Tacheng, Xinjiang in northwest China. Xinjiang trunk expansion is associated with a cylindrical zone of diffuse secondary growth within ground and cortical parenchyma and with production of a large amount of wood containing rays and growth increments produced by normal cambria, both surrounding individual xylem strands. The xylem system accommodates expansion by tearing individual strand interconnections during secondary development. This mode of growth seems capable of producing trees of large size. Understanding the structure and growth of cladoxylopsids informs the analysis of canopy competition within early forests with the potential to drive global processes. The study has been published online: Xu H-H, Berry CM, Stein W, Wang Y, Tang P, Fu Q. 2017. Unique growth strategy in the Earth’s first trees revealed in silicified fossil trunks from China. PNAS. The largest silicified trunk in the field, with a maximum diameter of ～70 cm, from the Upper Devonian of Xinjiang, Northwest China. Image by XU Honghe. The transverse plane of a trunk from the Upper Devonian of Xinjiang. Note at least 33 cauline xylem strands forming a double cylinder, with some in the process of dividing. Letters indicate the different slices; numbers indicate the cauline strands. Image by XU Honghe.
A research group report their latest study on the astronomical cycles and magnetostratigraphy of the Late Triassic Xujiahe Formation of South China. Their study provides key evidence for resolving the decade-long controversy on the Late Triassic time scale; it also has significant implications on the global correlation of the end-Triassic mass extinction event and global climate and environmental changes. The Triassic Period (252-201 million years ago) is bounded by two mass extinctions, but the time scale of the Late Triassic still remains controversial. A new study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, a top journal of geoscience sheds light on this critical problem. A research group led by Prof. HUANG Chunju at China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and Prof. WANG Yongdong at Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences report their latest study on the astronomical cycles and magnetostratigraphy of the Late Triassic Xujiahe Formation of South China. Their study provides key evidence for resolving the decade-long controversy on the Late Triassic time scale; it also has significant implications on the global correlation of the end-Triassic mass extinction event and global climate and environmental changes. The Milankovitch theory that quasi-periodic oscillations in the Earth-Sun position have induced prominent 10 to 100 thousand year variations in the stratigraphic record of climate is widely accepted. Reversals of the Earth’s magnetic polarity field are geologically rapid events. These provide the cornerstone for the high-resolution geochronology. The astronomically tuned geomagnetic polarity time scale of the Newark Supergroup of North America provides a "global reference" for the Late Triassic time scale. However, the Newark reference scale has been challenged regarding its age scale and completeness. Therefore, an independent astronomical-tuned magnetic polarity zonation is required to verify the Newark reference scale. Sichuan Basin is a large and typical Mesozoic terrestrial basin in eastern Asia. The dinosaur-track-bearing Xujiahe Formation has abundant and diverse fossils plants and fauna; it is one of the key resource beds for coal and gas. The Xujiahe Formation deposited in the lacustrine-fluvial environment ca. 200 million years ago. The chronology of the formation is quite uncertain that hampers global correlation with Upper Triassic marine sections. In past years, the research team conducted an integrated study on the biodiversity and environmental change across the Triassic-Jurassic transition in the Sichuan Basin. Collaborated with international geologists, the team did a five-year long integrate study of astronomical cycles and magnetic stratigraphy from four sections in Xuanhan, Hechuan and Guangyuan regions of the Sichuan Basin from 2012 to 2016. Variations in natural gamma-ray and magnetic susceptibility that reflect variable continental weathering in the source regions of the Xujiahe Formation are paced by Milankovitch cycles, especially the 100-kyr short eccentricity and 405-kyr long eccentricity. They compiled a multiple million years astronomical calibrated magnetic stratigraphy for the Xujiahe Formation that also has dating from detrital zircons and regional biostratigraphy. The age of the Xujiahe Formation was accordingly assigned to the late Norian to the Triassic-Jurassic boundary 201.3 to 207.2 million years ago. For the first time, the cycle-calibrated magnetostratigraphy of the Xujiahe Formation is compared directly via the magnetic-polarity zones to the astronomical cycles of the Newark Supergroup. The Sichuan-Newark time scale is compatible with the magnetostratigraphy from the candidate Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (called 'Golden Spike' in the geological community) for the Norian-Rhaetian boundary interval in Italy. A cooling event recovered from the oxygen isotope at the Italian Golden Spike is consistent with a similar event indicated from the fossil wood Xenoxylon at the Xujiahe Formation. Furthermore, age of the earliest dinosaur footprints in China is also dated to the middle Rhaetian (ca. 204 Ma). This study greatly improves the chronologic resolution of the Xujiahe Formation. It also helps to resolve the controversy about the completeness and reliability of the Newark reference scale. This is the first solid evidence from China that provides critical constraint for the Late Triassic Time Scale. An international reviewer said this paper is “extremely concise and to the point, and presents interesting data that will be of use to the ongoing debate on the duration and subdivisions of the Late Triassic”. This study was co-sponsored by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China, Strategic Priority Research Program (B) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 973 program, 111 Project, China Scholarship Council, and Overseas Distinguished Teacher Program of the Ministry of Education. Prof. Chunju Huang and Yongdong Wang are two corresponding authors of the study. Read more at: Li, Mingsong, Zhang, Yang, Huang, Chunju*, Ogg, James, Hinnov, Linda, Wang, Yongdong*, Zou, Zhuoyan, Li, Liqin. 2017. Astronomical tuning and magnetostratigraphy of the Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation of South China and Newark Supergroup of North America: implications for the Late Triassic time scale. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 475: 207-223. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2017.07.015
Prof. WANG Yongdong Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology E-mail: ydwang@nigpas.ac.cn
There is a drowning event in the Yangtze Platform that happened during Floian to Dapingian age, which refers to curtailment or shut down of shallow water carbonate platform and reef production, and has resulted in the changes of depositional regime. What makes this event more important is the coincidence with Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE). The GOBE is a rapid radiation of marine biodiversity in Ordovician Period, especially during the Early to Middle Ordovician. Conducting case studies in South China for more than ten years, Chinese researchers have already achieved quite a few detailed results in this process. But researches about its mechanism and environmental background are still insufficient. Thus, a detailed study on the process of this drowning event is necessary. Field photos. (A) and (B) are Microbialite and lithoclastic grainstone of the Hunghuayuan Formation respectively, which is the deposits before drowning; (C) is the boundary (white line) between the Hunghuayuan Formation and the overlying Zitai Formation; (D), (E) and (F) show the characters of the Zitai's deposits after drowning. Coins in A, B, D and E are 2 cm in diameter, while hammer in C and pen in F are 28 cm and 14 cm in length respectively. Recently, Ph.D. candidate LUAN Xiaocong, Prof. ZHAN Renbin and other researchers form Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with sedimentologists and paleontologists from Peking University and University of Cincinnati, USA, have been carrying out the sedimentological study on the Lower-Middle Ordovician succession at Xiangshuidong, southwestern Hubei Province. Their investigation shows that the drowning event appear as the replacement of pure grey grainstones and packstones of the Hunghuayuan Formation by purple red, argillaceous limestone of the Zitai Formation and correlative units, which are mixed siliciclastic and carbonate deposits. The drowning was gradual and fluctuating, starting as a marginal shoal, through the inner ramp, and becoming a stable ramp setting. This drowning is mainly attributed to a global sea-level rise, and an increase of terrigenous supply that resulted from local tectonic movement (i.e. the initiation of collision between the South China and Cathaysia blocks). After drowning, red offshore marine facies were well developed along the platform margin, indicating an oxic sea bottom environment during the first acme of GOBE in South China. The changes in environments associated with this transition may have provided new evolutionary opportunities that contributed to the Middle Ordovician diversification. It is a key for us to further understand the detailed process of GOBE in South China.
Component vertical successions, microfacies distribution and sea-level change of the Hunghuayuan (HHYF) and the Zitai (ZTF) formations at Xiangshuidong section. Abbreviations: FHF, Fenhsiang Formation; KNTF, Kuniutan Formation; T., thickness; M, mudstone; W, wackestone; P, packstone; G, grainstone; R, reef; clr., color; SW, storm wave base; FW, fair weather wave base; HST, Highstand Systems Tract; TST, Transgressive Systems Tract; CS, Condensed section. Related information of this paper: Luan Xiaocong, Carlton E. Brett, Zhan Renbin, Liu Jianbo, Wu Rongchang, Liang Yan. 2017. Microfacies analysis of the Lower-Middle Ordovician succession at Xiangshuidong, southwestern Hubei Province, and the drowning and shelf-ramp transition of a carbonate platform in the Yangtze region. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.06.004
CA analysis of conodont faunas using the Jaccard and Raup-Crick similarity coefficients: A, B – ‘Pre-Telychian’ interval, C, D – Telychian interval The Llandovery of the Silurian is an important period for the evolution of conodonts. After the end Ordovician mass extinction, conodont animal started to recover and then radiate in the Llandovery, with significant changes in the fauna and the diversity. The study on the paleobiogeographic pattern of the conodont animal, will help us understand the distribution pattern of conodont animal during the transitional period and its relationships with the paleo-environmental changes. Recently, Dr. CHEN Zhongyang and Prof. FAN Junxuan from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with Dr. Peep M？nnik from Institute of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, reconstructed the Llandovery conodont provincialism based on the revised conodont occurrences from 250 localities around the world. Several quantitative methods were adopted in their analyses. The result indicates a surprising, longitudinal distribution pattern, which was mostly controlled by the ocean current circulation, rather than temperature. Moreover, they investigated the paleobiogeographic pattern of conodont animal since Early Ordovician. They found that the conodont animal showed apparent longitudinal distribution pattern during the whole Ordovician, while a sudden change happened during the Ordovician-Silurian transition. They inferred that the Hirnantian glaciation and the simultaneous mass extinction could be the major controlling factor which resulted in the reorganization of the conodont fauna and the significant change in its living habits and ecological requirement. However, additional studies and a more comprehensive data set are needed to reveal the mechanism of these changes. The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Estonian Research Council. Article information: Zhongyang Chen, Peep M？nnik, Junxuan Fan*. 2017. Llandovery (Silurian) conodont provincialism: An update based on quantitative analysis. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.07.023.
Silicified microfossils from the Doushantuo Formation at the Lujiayuanzi section Doushantuo-Pertatataka acritarchs (DPAs) are abundant and well preserved in the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in South China. Not only do they provide insights into the marine ecosystem immediately after a Neoproterozoic global glaciation, they also afford us an ideal tool for Ediacaran stratigraphic subdivision and correlation. However, previous reports of DPAs in South China are mostly from the Yangtze Gorges area in intra-shelf basin and from Weng’an in shelf margin environments, while data from localities in slope and basinal facies are lacking. In recent years, OUYANG Qing and colleagues from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences have carried out stratigraphic and microfossil investigations for an upper slope section of the Doushantuo Formation at Lujiayuanzi in northwestern Hunan Province, South China. Five DPA genera and eight species have been discovered from the Doushantuo Formation chert nodules, with the uppermost two DPA horizons occurring above a δ13C negative excursion that is correlated with the EN3/Shuram excursion based on integrated litho- and chemostratigraphic correlation. The new findings reveal a broader temporal and spatial distribution of DPAs in South China, and further support their biostratigraphic potential in the early？middle Ediacaran subdivision and correlation. Lithostratigraphic column, fossil occurrences, and chemostratigraphy of the Lujiayuanzi section This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program (B) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant number XDB18000000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41672027), National Basic Research Program of China (grant number 2013CB835005), and the US National Science Foundation (EAR1528553). Article information: Ouyang, Q., Guan, C., Zhou, C.*, Xiao, S., 2017, Acanthomorphic acritarchs of the Doushantuo Formation from an upper slope section in northwestern Hunan Province, South China, with implications for early–middle Ediacaran biostratigraphy. Precambrian Research, 298: 512–529.
Lithology and chitinozoan stratigraphic ranges of the Middle–Upper Ordovician Miaopo Formation at Jieling, northern Yichang, western Hubei. As an extinct group of organic-walled, planktic microfossils, chitinozoan is characterized by its wide distribution and short temporal range of its species, which enables it to become an important tool in the stratigraphic correlation. The most significant chitinozoan acme appeared in the late Middle to early Late Ordovician in Baltica and North Gondwana. A relatively high diversity value also appeared during this time interval in Laurentia. However, chitinozoan biodiversity in the Yangtze Platform, as well as in China, was originally thought to be fairly low for this time interval in comparison with those of other major palaeoplates or terranes. And the chitinozoan biostratigraphic sequence for this time interval requires further work for regional and global correlations. During the last two years, Dr. LIANG Yan from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and her colleagues described and analyzed a diverse and abundant chitinozoan assemblage from the Middle–Upper Ordovician Miaopo Formation at Jieling, Yichang area of South China. Forty-three species of 16 genera were identified, which substantially increases the chitinozoan diversity of this particular time interval of the South China palaeoplate. Biostratigraphic subdivision and correlation of the Middle–Upper Ordovician in South China and Baltica. Several key chitinozoan species from North Gondwana and Baltica are reported for the first time in China. The chitinozoans of this formation have mixed North Gondwana and Baltica palaeogeographic affinities. The recognition of Laufeldochitina stentor and Armoricochitina granulifera guarantees a better biostratigraphic correlation between South China and Baltica. Most of the formation, except for its topmost part, is assigned to the L. stentor Biozone, which can be further subdivided into two subzones: the Cyathochitina megacalix sp. nov. Subzone (lower) and the A. granulifera Subzone (upper). Additionally, three new species are formally described, including C. megacalix sp. nov., Cyathochitina raricostata sp. nov. and Eisenackitina tenuis sp. nov. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This paper is a contribution to the IGCP 653 (The Onset of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event). Article information: Yan Liang, Florentin Paris, Peng Tang. 2017. Middle–Late Ordovician chitinozoans from the Yichang area, South China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 244, 26-42. Doi: 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2017.04.004.
Diagram showing the generic (diversity) and specimen (abundance) percentages of various major groups of late Hirnantian and early Rhuddanian brachiopods (theCathaysiorthis fauna), and late Katian brachiopods in the Jiangnan Region, Southeast China. Classification of extinction events and their severity is generally based on taxonomic counts. The ecological impacts of such events have been categorized and prioritized but rarely tested with empirical data. In a recent study, the ecological severity of the end Ordovician event was considered even less significant than that of the Serpukhovian, and is ranked only sixth within the eleven largest Phanerozoic crises since the beginning of the Ordovician Period. South China offers a key opportunity to examine the ecological changes through the end Ordovician event in detail. Recently, to test the ecological change through the end Ordovician mass extinction, a study carried on by Prof. HUANG Bing, CAS Academician RONG Jiayu and Prof. ZHAN Renbin from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences together with David A.T. Harper from Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, UK. The study based on the data from the Cathaysiorthis fauna which dominated by brachiopods from the uppermost Ordovician to lowermost Silurian of SE China, succeeding the cool-water Hirnantia Fauna. The fauna is abundant and has a relatively high diversity; these data were reported with the detailed systematic descriptions of the fauna. The spatial and temporal ranges of more than 6,500 identified specimens, from 10 collections derived from 6 localities were investigated by network and cluster analyses, nonmetric multidimensional scaling and a species abundance model. The ecological circumstances of the survival brachiopod fauna after the end Ordovician mass extinction were evaluated. Other, older brachiopod faunas, Altaethyrella fauna and Foliomena fauna, characterizing the late Katian within the same area are compared in terms of diversity, population structure, benthic assemblage zones and relative abundance together with their major components to help further elucidate the ecological ‘turnover’ through the end Ordovician extinction event in South China. Depth zonations and structure of brachiopod assemblages along an onshore-offshore gradient in the late Katian were similar to those in the latest Ordovician–earliest Silurian (post–extinction fauna). The widths of ecological range are similar between before and immediately after the crisis that may suggest the limited ecological effect of the event. Within this ecological framework, deeper-water faunas are partly replaced by new taxa; siliciclastic substrates continued to be dominated by the more ‘Ordovician’ orthides and strophomenides, shallow-water carbonate environments hosted atrypides, athyridides and pentamerides, with the more typical Ordovician brachiopod fauna continuing to dominate until the late Rhuddanian. The end Ordovician extinctions tested the resilience of the brachiopod fauna without damage to its overall ecological structure; that commenced later at the end of the Rhuddanian. Reference: Huang Bing, Harper D A T, Rong Jiayu, Zhan Renbin. 2017. Brachiopod faunas after the end Ordovician mass extinction from South China: Testing ecological change through a major taxonomic crisis. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 138: 502–514.
SEM images of Diestheria longinqua Chen, in Zhang et al., 1976, emend.（Fig. 1 a light microscopy image) Clam shrimps (conchostracans) are large freshwater branchiopod crustaceans with a chitinous carapace (a few millimeter to two centimeters in size) that have a long geological history extending back to the Devonian. Extant clam shrimps normally inhabit quiet, alkaline freshwater pools, and often occur in temporary water bodies like rice field and even rain pools. They are useful for biostratigraphic subdivision and correlation of non-marine successions. The fossil spinicaudatan genus Diestheria Chen is an important component of the diverse Eosestheria fauna of the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota in northern China. The studied type specimens of Diestheria longinqua Chen, in Zhang et al., 1976 were originally collected from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation at Dakangpu of Yixian County, western Liaoning Province, northeastern China. They are deposited in the collection of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPCAS). The holotype (NIGPCAS 15462) is an external mould of a left valve and the paratype (NIGPCAS 15463) is a right valve. Most of the previous studies on the palaeontology of fossil clam shrimps have used a light microscope. This means that some morphological characters of potential taxonomic value were difficult to see clearly. Recently, M.S. LI Yuling, M.S. TENG Xiao, Prof. LI Gang from NIGPCAS and Prof. MATSUOKA Atsushi from Niigata Univ. re-examined the paratype specimen (NIGPCAS 15463) of Diestheria longinqua using a LEO 1530 VP scanning electron microscope (SEM). And the morphological re-examination under an SEM revealed morphological features on the carapace that have not been recognized previously: 1) growth lines with fine ridges; 2) radial lirae intercalated with small irregular reticulation on the growth bands in the postero-middle part of the carapace. The here discovered delicate reticulation between radial lirae is different from the evenly distributed puncta found in Neodiestheria. This study indicates that it is necessary to carry out a further morphological study on other species of Diestheria in the future. The research was recently published in the journal Sci. Rep. Niigata Univ. (Geology).This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Related information of this paper: Yuling LI, Xiao TENG, Atsushi MATSUOKA, Gang LI, 2017. SEM morphological study of clam shrimp Diestheria (spinicaudatan) of the Jehol Biota of China. Sci. Rep.Niigata Univ. (Geology) , No. 31, 69？74.
Clam shrimp Ordosestheria multicostata Clam shrimps (conchostracans) are freshwater branchiopod crustaceans with a hinged chitinous or complex chitin-mineral carapace. They are known in the fossil record from the Devonian to recent. Since the Pennsylvanian, clam shrimps have been an important and widespread component in non-marine, aquatic biotopes. They are useful for biostratigraphic subdivision and correlation of non-marine successions. The Yanjiestheria fauna occurs widely in the non-marine Lower Cretaceous rocks of East Asia and is principally composed of Neodiestheria, Orthestheria, Orthestheriopsis and Yanjiestheria. The nominated genus Yanjiestheria Chen in Zhang et al., 1976 was erected basing on specimens collected from the upper Albian Dalazi Formation in the Yanji Basin, Jilin Province, north-eastern China, and has been reported subsequently from the Lower Cretaceous in the south-eastern China, north-western China, Korea and south-western Japan. Recently, M.Sc. TENG Xiao and Prof. LI Gang from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences recovered species of Ordosestheria from the upper Albian Dalazi Formation in north-eastern China, which were previously identified as orthestheriids. This means that the distribution of ordosestheriids is wider than we thought before, and this genus can be an index genus for the subdivision of the non-marine sequences in China. According to previous studies the authors of the present research tentatively propose that ordosestheriids first originated from northern Africa in the early Barremian, during the early Aptian transgression they escaped from northern Africa and dispersed to the Ordos Basin of eastern Asia, then they further dispersed eastward to the western palaeo-Pacific coastal area and colonized in the Yanji Basin in late Albian. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and by Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDPB05). Related information of this paper: Xiao Teng, Gang Li. 2017. Clam shrimp genus Ordosestheria from the Lower Cretaceous Dalazi Formation in Jilin Province, north-eastern China. Cretaceous Research, doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2017.06.011.
Transverse section of fern-like plant Shougangia stem from the Upper Devonian of China A further study on the anatomy of Shougangia bella from the Late Devonian (Famennian) of South China is carried on the workgroup of Prof. XU Honghe from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. Wang Deming from Peking University. The study release the anatomy feature of Shougangia and provide a reconstruction based on its known morphology, which was studied by them previously. Shougangia stems contain a dissected stele with a four-ribbed and an elongatecurved primary xylem segments changing to three elongate and slightly curved segments. Primary branches have a dissected stele with three similar primary xylem segments as in stems. The primary xylem of the stems and primary branches is mesarch, and individual primary xylem segments bear peripheral protoxylem strands and are surrounded by secondary xylem. Shougangia is anatomically compared with fern-like plants, zygopterid ferns and early seed plants, verifying its uncertain affinity at class and order levels as suggested by morphology, or representing a new order within the Cladoxylopsida. By the Late Devonian, besides the abrupt drop of atmospheric CO2 levels, the presence of secondary xylem may correlate well with the primary radiation of leaves (megaphylls) of euphyllophytes (e.g. fern-like plants, sphenopsids, progymnosperms and seed plants). Reconstruction of morphology (A) and anatomy (B–D) of the Late Devonian fern-like plant Shougangia from China Reference: Wang D-M*, Zhang Y-Y, Liu L, Xu H-H*, Qin M, Liu L. 2017. Reinvestigation of the Late Devonian Shougangia bella and new insights into the evolution of fern-like plants, Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Doi: 10.1080/14772019.2017.1289269
