泥盆纪石松类研究新进展

简要论述了近十年来泥盆纪石松类研究取得的主要进展。分支系统学研究增进了对石松类起源与谱系分异的认识,新构建的系统发育树中石松纲与真叶植物互为姐妹群,并识别出原始鳞木目和异孢石松类两个单系。基于化石数据库和定量统计分析,揭示了泥盆纪石松类的多样性演变模式:早泥盆世布拉格期(Pragian)石松类的属种数量显著增加,在埃姆斯期(Emsian)至艾菲尔期(Eifelian)逐步取代工蕨类,至晚泥盆世进一步辐射。依据华南、新疆及全球其他地区丰富的化石材料,大量泥盆纪的石松植物新类群得以建立,一系列已有属种得到详细的再研究,明确了这些植物的生物学特征,也促进了对石松类根系、生长和繁殖习性演化的深入理解。对华南早泥盆世的镰蕨类和挪威中—晚泥盆世乔木状石松的研究分别揭示了这一时期植物-土壤相互作用及热带森林群落面貌,为了解早期维管植物对地球环境和陆地生态系统的影响提供了新的资料。     

抱囊蕨属—四川早泥盆世一新属

本文描述了四川早泥盆世陆地植物的一个新属种——江油抱囊蕨(Amplectosporangiumjiangyouense)。植物体茎轴裸露,等或不等二歧式分枝多次,在其远端区密集的二歧式分枝构成了一个椭圆状或梨状轮廓的能育顶枝系。孢子囊椭圆形,具短柄,呈单列侧生于能育枝的内侧。根据新植物显示的形态特征,除与一些早期陆地维管植物作了比较外,还初步探讨了它与种子植物珠被演化间的关系。     

河南固始早石炭世杨山组植物群

系统描述了扬山组植物18属25种,其中以石松类及种子蕨和真蕨纲为主,仅少数属楔叶纲;石松类中发现不少叶座较小,叶痕相对较大的鳞木类植物,颇似华夏植物群中的鳞木类;首次报道了我国发现的古芦木孢囊穗.据对植物群综合分析,杨山组的时代为早石炭世中晚期.     

云南西冲组的一种细小植物—兼论华南中泥盆世晚期植物组合

研究我国云南中泥盆世晚期西冲组的一种细小植物Psilophyton striatum sp.nov.,它具有二歧分叉光滑轴和生殖枝,生殖枝由三次等二歧分叉枝系和族生孢子囊组成,枝系末端对生两对直立孢子囊,根据对已有材料的分析,宜将华南中泥盆世晚期植物组合改名为Lepidodendropsis arborescense-Minarodendron cathaysiense Eocladoxylon minutum(LME)组合,它以石松类植物为主,共生有“真蕨植物”和三枝蕨类,分为小形树状植物和地面植物两个生态系统,同时,与世界上同期植物群进行了对比。     

河南固始早石炭世杨山组植物群

系统描述了扬山组植物18属25种,其中以石松类及种子蕨和真蕨纲为主,仅少数属楔叶纲;石松类中发现不少叶座较小,叶痕相对较大的鳞木类植物,颇似华夏植物群中的鳞木类;首次报道了我国发现的古芦木孢囊穗.据对植物群综合分析,杨山组的时代为早石炭世中晚期.     

中国西南地区早泥盆世工蕨化石——中国西南部早泥盆世植物群研究之一

本文描述了产自云南东部翠峰山群及邻省大致相当沉积中的工蕨化石29种。其中定了种名的10个中,包括7个新种;另外19个是未定种和仅以单个孢子囊为代表的可疑种。这一研究大大丰富了工蕨属的知识,也为中国早泥盆世植物群增添了不少的新内容。这对我国早泥盆世陆相或海陆交互相地层的划分对比,对古生物学上某些问题的进一步探讨,都具有重要的意义。     

蹄盖蕨属（Athyrium Roth）分类性状观察

通过查阅馆藏标本和野外观察,对蹄盖蕨属（Athyrium Roth）的分类性状进行了比较研究,认为根状茎类型、叶上是否具刺、孢子囊群的形状、羽片基部上侧是否具耳状突起和是否具棘头状腺毛等5个形态性状较为稳定,可作为蹄盖蕨属的属下分类性状;叶或羽片的形状及羽片是否具柄等性状可作为分种性状;叶的分裂回数、鳞片和叶柄、羽轴及小羽轴的颜色、被毛多寡及裂片形状等形态性状不适合单独作为蹄盖蕨属属内分种的性状。     

新疆准噶尔盆地西缘晚泥盆世一种新的石松类植物

描述新疆和布克赛尔晚泥盆世洪古勒楞组中的一种石松类孢子囊穗,该孢子囊穗二歧分叉一次,长纺锤形叶座紧密螺旋排列于穗轴上,每轮6枚;孢子叶披针形,具叶柄,单脉,叶缘具细齿;孢子囊近轴处着生,长椭球形,囊内有4枚大孢子;大孢子圆球形,表面光滑,直径为900－1200μg。通过对比研究,将当前孢子囊穗定为新属、新种,即Hefengistrobus bifurcus gen.et sp.nov.,同时讨论该孢子囊穗在石松类演化上的意义。     

河南省鳞毛蕨科耳蕨属一新记录种——亮叶耳蕨

报道了河南省鳞毛蕨科耳蕨属一新记录种——亮叶耳蕨(Polystichum lanceolatum Baker)。对该种进行了特征描述,并编制了河南耳蕨属植物检索表。该种近似正宇耳蕨(P.liui Ching),但羽片上侧耳状凸起不明显,边缘有7～8个具短刺头的牙状齿,孢子囊群在主脉上侧最多3个,下侧不育或偶有1个,囊群盖圆盾形,全缘等特征而不同。凭证标本存放于河南农业大学植物标本馆(HEAC)。     

中国早二叠世早期一种虫囊蕨（新种）（观音座莲目）的解剖构造

报道了山西太原西山煤田早二叠世早期太原组上部７号煤层煤核中一种具解剖构造的观音座莲目生殖器官化石。经对比研究,将其归入辉木科虫囊蕨属,它与虫囊蕨属已有的４个组（共２９个种）都不一样,因此代表了一个新的类型：Ｓｈａｎｘｉｅｎｓｉｓ组,标本被命名为山西虫囊蕨（新种）,其主要特征是：生殖小羽片可能为栉羊齿型,聚合囊着生于小羽片背面的侧脉上,沿中脉两侧排列,各有一行,每行大约有１０枚,侧脉不分叉,叶片边缘     

New Observations on Drepanophycus spinaeformis from the Lower Devonian of Guizhou,China

Drepanophycus spinaeformis Goeppert is a plant of world-wide distribution in the Lower Devonian. Although this species has been reported from numerous localities, it is far from being understood well, because the fertile material is rare. Observation on specimens from the Danlin Formation of Guizhou showed that the sporangia were borne on short stalks attached laterally to the axes near the leaf axil, nearly sphaeroid, and smaller than Rayner’ kidney sporangia. Howerer, other character, e. g. banded nutritive axis bearing spiral drepanoid leaves, perforated tracheid wall, are the same as those described by Rayner. We agree with Rayner in raising Drepanophycales to the status of class, Drepanophycopsida, parallel with Zosterophyllopsida and Lycopsida. The systematic position of Drepanophycopsida is in between Zosterophyllopsida and Lycopsida. The class includes one order, one family and three genera (Drepanophycus, Baragwanathia and Asteroxylon).The fertile parts of the plant are reported for the first time in China.     

A new microphyllous plant from the Lower Devonian of Yunnan Province, China

Sterile and fertile shoots of a microphyllous vascular plant are described from the Lower Devonian Posongchong Formation (? upper Siegenian), Yunnan Province, southern China and placed in the new taxon Halleophyton zhichangense gen. et sp. nov. The sterile axes are characterized by conspicuous, contiguous swollen rhomboidal to hexagonal leaf bases and relatively broad spatulate laminae. The relief of the leaf bases is not so pronounced in the fertile areas, which bear numerous cauline sporangia with two equal valves. In vegetative characters the new fossils, although smaller and more fragmentary, resemble Drepanophycus gaspianus but in the absence of information on the fertile parts of the latter and because of the controversy surrounding the concept of the genus Drepanophycus, we decided to erect a new genus. Its relationship to the lycophytes sensu stricto is equivocal as exact details of the relationship of sporangium with leaf and sporangium vascularization remain unknown.     

A re-investigation of Halle's Drepanophycus spinaeformis Göpp. from the Lower Devonian of Yunnan Province, southern China

New collections of microphyllous plants identical to those described by Halle almost 60 years ago and identified by him as Drepanophycus spinaeformis Göpp., 1852 have been made from the Emsian Xujiachong Formation, near Qujing City, eastern Yunnan Province. New information relates to orientation of leaves, epidermal and xylem anatomy, vegetative and fertile leafy shoots with roots and sporangia. The latter, dehiscing distally into two equal valves diat are elliptical to circular in face view, are attached directly to the stem by short stalks. They show no consistent relationship to leaves and are supplied by a separate vascular trace much wider than that to leaves. Detailed comparison is made with the cosmopolitan and stratigraphically long-ranging species D. spinaeformis. The Chinese specimens can be distinguished on leaf orientation, their anomocytic stomata and sporangial characters, although the latter remain conjectural in D. spinaeformis, and are therefore placed in a new species Drepanophycus qujingensis. Hypotheses relating to cooksonioids, zosterophylls and the origin of the lycopsids are reviewed and the phylogenetic position of the new taxon assessed. It is concluded that it has greatest affinity with Astewxylon mackiei, and that both exhibit the kind of fertile organization that might be anticipated in the ancestors of the lycopsids.     

Diversity dynamics of Zosterophyllopsida

The Zosterophyllopsida were major contributors to the diversification of early land plants. We present the first detailed analysis of the diversity dynamics of these plants from an updated database of all currently recognized zosterophyllopsid species. A set of quantitative methods classically used in palaeodiversity studies was applied to two data sets. The first one, ‘Zosterophyllopsida sensu stricto’, corresponds to the clade identified by Hao & Xue (The Early Devonian Posongchong Flora of Yunnan. (2013), Science Press). In the second, called ‘Zosterophyllopsida sensu lato’, barinophytalean‐type plants and taxa for which zosterophyllopsid affinities are suspected are added. The number of localities is used to explore sampling bias. Results show that sampling effect is minimal for the Early Devonian. For this time interval, both data sets record consistent patterns of changes suggesting that, whatever their affinities, all taxa included in the Zosterophyllopsida sensu lato show similar evolutionary trends. The diversity dynamics of zosterophyllopsids are characterized by a radiation during the Lochkovian, maximal values in the Pragian and a decline starting in the Emsian. The proportion of zosterophyllalean taxa with terminal sporangia is high until the Late Lochkovian when gosslingialean taxa without terminal sporangia evolved. During the Middle and Late Devonian, when diversity patterns are strongly affected by sampling, zosterophyllopsid diversity is low and characterized by a high proportion of barinophytacean and gosslingialean taxa, the latter becoming extinct in the Early Frasnian.     

古木蕨——云南早泥盆世一植物新属

本文报道了滇东南文山地区下泥盆统坡松冲组(西根阶)地层中一陆生植物新属、种——曲轴古木蕨(Gumuia zyzzata gen.et sp.nov.)。植物矮小,匍匐或直立生长,二叉分枝。能育轴上孢子囊侧出,居于顶端或侧部位置,后者呈亚对生、交互对生或互生在曲折能育轴的折点上。孢子囊圆至横椭圆形,无柄或极短柄,成熟时通常切线垂直茎轴着生,并沿远端开裂。在系统分类上,依据新植物孢子囊侧出的性状,它暂被归人工蕨类,这有待于解剖结构的进一步证实。文中还对合轴分枝这一重要性状的发生做了探讨。     

Gumuia gyzzata A New Plant from the Lower Devonian of Yunnan,China

A new genus and species, Gumuia zyzzata is found in the Posonchong Formation of the Lower Devonian (Siegenian) from Wenshan district of Yunnan, China. It has both lateral and terminal sporangia. Successive sporangia develop on alternate sides of short axes near the hases of preceding sporangia, producing a zigzag fertile organization. The author supposes that it is a sympodium Opposite sporangia are suppositionally referred to the result from condensation of the axis between alternate sporangia. The new plant is tentatively referred to a putative zosterophyll.     

Observations on Nothia aphylla Lyon ex Høeg

Naked branched axes associated with sporangia, originally described by Kidston and Lang (1920) as the probable fertile region of Asteroxylon mackiei, were later shown by Lyon (1964) to belong to an unknown plant which he named Nothia aphylla. The name was validated by Høeg in 1967. Nothia aphylla is described here in greater detail from new material collected from the Rhynie locality. The sporangia are lateral in terminal branched spikes. Their arrangement ranges from spiral to semiverticillate. The fertile axes terminate in clusters of 2–5 sporangia. The stalked sporangia are rather reniform with a distal transversely-extended dehiscence slit. Systematically Nothia has similarities to both Zosterophyllophytina and Rhyniophytina.     

A reconsideration of Dimeripteris cornuta SCHWEITZER and CAI, a diminutive fossil plant from the Middle Devonian of Yunnan, China

Small plant fragments previously attributed to Dimeripteris cornuta SCHWEITZER and CAI and new specimens are described from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) Xichong Formation of Wuding, Yunnan Province, southwest China. A predominantly trifurcate branching pattern is recognized in lower orders of branching. Erect fusiform sporangia are borne in pairs terminally on a short pedicel on up to three times dichotomously-branching fertile unit. The beaked tips of the paired sporangia point outwards. This plant is distinguished from known plants by the trifurcate branching pattern and sporangia morphology, but is of problematic affinity. The plant is named Tauritheca cornuta (SCHWEITZER and CAI) WANG and BERRY nov. gen. and nov. comb.     

A new species of Baragwanathia from the Sextant Formation (Emsian) Northern Ontario, Canada

Baragwanathia abitibiensis is described from the Sextant Formation of northern Ontario, Canada (middle to upper Kmsian age). The plant remains are primarily compressions in which flattened xylem strands, epidermis with stomata, and cuticle are well preserved. Pyrite permineralization of the leaves was Ibiuid in one specimen. Comparison with B. longijolia Lang & Cookson indicates remarkable morphological similarities and probable anatomical similarities although details of the structure of the epidermis and cuticle are lacking in B. longijolia. No information is available on the outline of the cauline xylem strand in B. abitibiensis nor on the form and position of the sporangia it bore. Comparisons are also made to species of Drepanophycus. The age of/?, longijolia and the Baragwanathia Flora, is discussed with particular reference to the putative dating of some specimens as Silurian. The morphological and anatomical complexity of Baragwanathia is at a level of advancement typical of Early to Middle Devonian lycopods. There is no evidence of precursors to the genus associated with the fragments of land vascular plants in the well-dated Silurian sediments of Wales, Czechoslovakia, New York State, or Podolia.     

A new genus of Early Devonian plants with novel strobilar structures and vegetative appendages from the Posongchong Formation of Yunnan,China

A new plant, Dibracophyton acrovatum gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Lower Devonian (Pragian) Posongchong Formation of Wenshan District, southeastern Yunnan, China. The plant has creeping axes from which arise vegetative and fertile axes. The vegetative axes helically bear lateral dichotomous appendages with curved or round tips. The fertile axes possess terminal strobili with numerous fertile units arranged in irregular helices. Each fertile unit consists of a stalked long-elliptical sporangium, with dehiscence into two equal valves, and two discrete long-ovate bracts covering sporangium from above–below directions. A new genus and species is thus established based on these characters and is temporarily regarded as incertae sedis of Tracheophyta, although it perhaps closes to the barinophytes in affinity. Detailed comparisons with other plants having a similar architecture, i.e., sporangia closely associated with modified vegetative structures, are made. The discovery of D. acrovatum further enriches the composition of the Posongchong flora and demonstrates great morphological disparity of the Early Devonian vascular plants.