• International research team unveils the century-long mystery for phylogenetic relationships of an extinct Mesozoic plant fossil
    FossilwoodisoneofthecrucialproxiesforunderstandingterrestrialvegetationcompositionanddevelopmentintheEarth’shistory.Beforetheadventandradiationofangiosperms,Mesozoicforestsweredominatedbyflourishinggymnosperms,includingbennettitaleans,cycads,ginkgos,andconifers.Thewell-definedfossilwoodgenusXenoxylonisasignificantmemberoftheMesozoicgymnospermflora.ThisgenuswasestablishedbytheGermanscientistGothanin1905,nearly120yearsago.However,itsexactclassificationwithinthegymnospermshasbeenapuzzleforthepaleobotanicalcommunityforalongtime.Hence,clarifyingitssystematicclassificationpositionisveryimportantandhasalwaysbeenafocusofpaleobotanists.Recently,theinternationaljournalJournalofSystematicsandEvolution(JSE)publishedanewresultcompletedbyacollaborativeteamofpaleobotanistsfromChina,Germany,andtheCzechRepublic,providingnewscientificevidencetosolvethecentury-longmysteryofthesystematicclassificationofXenoxylonfossils.Thisstudyinnovativelyintegrateddatasetsofgene,woodanatomy,andbiomolecularcharacteristicsforthefirsttimetoperformaphylogeneticanalysisofXenoxylon,whichproposesthatthisgenushasaclosephylogeneticrelationshipwiththeextantconiferfamilyPodocarpaceae.Xenoxylonfossilsarecharacterizedbythestronglycompressedradialtracheidpitsandwindow-likecross-fieldpitsinthesecondaryxylem(Figure1).TheyarewidelydistributedacrosstheLaurasia,with22verifiedspeciesofXenoxylondescribed.Tounderstanditssystematicclassificationposition,theresearchteamconductedinterdisciplinaryinnovativestudies.Threeintegrateddatasetsongeneticcharacteristics,woodanatomicalstructure,andbiomolecularcompositioncharacteristics(suchasbiomarkers),fromXenoxylonandfiveextantconifersfamiliesweregenerated.ThesefamiliesincludeAraucariaceae,Cupressaceae,Pinaceae,Podocarpaceae,andSciadopityaceae.DuetothelackofDNAinXenoxylonfossils,thegeneticsequencesofXenoxylonwerecodedasmissingdatainthisanalysisascommonlyusedforextincttaxa.UsingmaximumparsimonyinTreeAnalysisusingNewTechnology(TNT),XenoxylonappearedbasaltoAraucariaceaeinthedatasetcombininggenesandxylologicalcharacters,whereasXenoxylonisplacednexttoPodocarpaceaeinthedatasetcombininggenesandbiomolecularcharacters.TofindareliablesystematicplacementofXenoxylon,acombineddatasetofgenes,xylologicalandbiomolecularcharactersisanalyzed.TheresultsandinterpretationsindicatethatXenoxyloniscloselyrelatedtoPodocarpaceae(Figure2).ThisrepresentsthefirstphylogeneticanalysisofXenoxylon,andfillstheknowledgegapofthesystematicrelationshipofthistaxon,andcontributestoabetterunderstandingoftheevolutionofextantconiferPodocarpaceae.Prof.Dr.YongdongWangfromtheNanjingInstituteofGeologyandPaleontology,ChineseAcademyofSciencesandDr.AoweiXieattheSenckenbergForschungsinstitutundNaturmuseumFrankfurt,aretheco-correspondingauthorsforthisstudy.Dr.ShookLingLow(InstituteofBotany,CzechAcademyofSciences),Prof.Dr.NingTian(CollegeofPalaeontology,ShenyangNormalUniversity),andProf.Dr.DieterUhl(SenckenbergForschungsinstitutundNaturmuseumFrankfurt)jointlycompletedtheresearch.Thisworkwasco-sponsoredbytheNationalNaturalScienceFoundationofChina,StrategicPriorityResearchProgram(B)oftheChineseAcademyofSciences,andtheStateKeyLaboratoryofPalaeobiologyandStratigraphy.OpenAccessfundingenabledandorganizedbyProjektDEAL.Reference:XieA.*,LowS.L.,WangY.*,TianN.,UhlD.,2024.NovelphylogeneticanalysisoftheMesozoiccommongymnospermXenoxylonGothanrevealscloseaffinitywithextantPodocarpaceae(Coniferales).JournalofSystematicsandEvolution.https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.13132Figure1.Thexylologicalcharactersofradialtracheidpitsandcross-fieldpitsinspeciesofXenoxylon.A–C,XenoxylonkazuoenseXie,Wang,TianetD.UhlintheLowerCretaceousJiufotangFormationofwesternLiaoning,China(Xieetal.,2024).D–F,XenoxylonutahenseXieetGeeintheUpperJurassicMorrisonFormationofnortheasternUtah,USA(Xieetal.,2021).G–I,XenoxylonguangyuanenseTian,WangetPhilippeintheUpperTriassicXujiaheFormationofnorthernSichuan,China(Tianetal.,2016).Redarrowsshowthewindow-likecross-fieldpitting.Scalebar=100μm.Figure2.Majority‐ruleconsensustreeforphylogeneticanalysisofXenoxyloninferredfromcombinedxylological,biomolecular,andgeneticcharactersanalysis.
    2024-11-29
  • Simulated Experiments Reveal Potential Role of Iron Sulfides in Origin of Life in Early Earth’s Terrestrial Hot Springs
    ​Recently, Dr. NAN Jingbo from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dr. LUO Shunqin from Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), and Dr. Quoc Phuong Tran from the University of New South Wales, Australia, along with researchers from other institutions, published a new study in Nature Communications. Their research highlights the potential role of iron sulfides in catalyzing the reduction of gaseous carbon dioxide (CO₂) into prebiotic organic molecules through non-enzymatic pathways in early Earth’s terrestrial hot springs. This work offers new insights into Earth’s early carbon cycles and prebiotic chemical reactions, underscoring the significance of iron sulfides in supporting the terrestrial hot spring origin of life hypothesis.
    2024-11-28
  • The Early Cretaceous tree fern Acanthopteris (Dicksoniaceae): New insight into fossil records, species diversity, palaeogeography and palaeoclimate
    The Dicksoniaceae is a representative member of the fern clade and shows high diversity during the Jurassic and Cretaceous in the Mesozoic, including Coniopteris Brongniart, Acanthopteris Sze, Eboracia Thomas of the extinct taxa, as well as Dicksonia L'Hér. and Lophosoria Presl of the extant taxa. This represents one of the significant plant groups for exploring the climate and environmental changes during the Mesozoic and modern times.
    2024-11-28
  • Ancient Giant Cicadas Reveal An Aerial Evolutionary Arms Race
    Recently, Dr. XU Chunpeng, Profs WANG Bo, ZHANG Haichun and Edmund Jarzembowski, carried out a detailed and global investigation of all representatives of giant cicadas. This research provides novel insight on the adaptive aerodynamic evolution of Palaeontinidae and supports the hypothesis of an aerial evolutionary arms race (Air Race) between Palaeontinidae and birds. This research was published in Science Advances on October 25th, 2024.
    2024-10-25
  • Researchers Advance Ideas on Abiotic Organic Synthesis
    Recently, a research team published their latest research findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The study reports the discovery of abiotic organic compounds in the oceanic crust of the Southwest Indian Ridge and proposes a molecular mechanism for organic condensation.
    2024-10-15
  • Cretaceous Amber Reveals the Stability of Beetle-Specialized Predation
    Recently, Prof. CAI Chenyang from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), and his PhD student, LI Yanda, co-supervised by the University of Bristol, reported adult and larval specimens of Loricera preserved in Cretaceous Burmese amber. These fossils show remarkable similarities to existing species, indicating that their specialized springtail predation behavior has persisted for at least 100 million years. The related findings were published in The Innovation and Palaeoentomology.
    2024-09-25
  • Phylogenomics Reveals the Evolutionary Relationships of Ants
    Recently, Prof. CAI Chenyang, a researcher from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), reanalyzed publicly available genomic data of ants, addressing long-standing controversies in ant phylogeny. By employing advanced model comparison methods, the team explored the reasons behind conflicts between datasets and proposed new insights into ant evolution. Their findings were published in Communications Biology.
    2024-09-25
  • Cretaceous Fireflies Reveal the Early Evolution of Insect Bioluminescence
    Recently, Prof. CAI Chenyang and colleagues from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), alongside researchers from the University of Cambridge, University of Bristol, Charles Sturt University, the American Museum of Natural History, and Palacký University, described the second known firefly fossil from the Mesozoic, found in Burmese amber. This discovery is significant for understanding the evolution of firefly bioluminescence and key traits.
    2024-09-24
  • New advances on reconstructing surface seawater silica concentrations in the Southern Ocean during the last glacial period
    Recently, Associate Prof. LI Tao from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), in collaboration with Prof. Chen Tianyu from Nanjing University and other scholars, utilized samples from ODP Site 1094 in the Southern Ocean to determine surface seawater silica concentrations in the Antarctic region over the past 60,000 years, based on measurements of diatom frustule Al/Si ratios and 230Th-normalized sediment 232Th flux.
    2024-07-19
  • New progress on the mineral differentiation and depositional mechanisms of iron ooids
    Recently, Dr. LUAN Xiaocong and Prof. ZHAN Renbin from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), in collaboration with colleagues from University of Saskatchewan and Western University, Canada, have examined these iron ooids through extensive field surveys and in-depth sedimentological and geochemical analyses on various iron-bearing successions and iron ooids across different regions on the Upper Yangtze region, South China. Related results have been published in Journal of Stratigraphy (in Chinese with English abstract) and Sedimentology, respectively.
    2024-06-28