Sprecher
Beschreibung
A new group of early land plants, the Eophytidae (eophytes), was recently proposed. It is based on specimens exceptionally preserved by charcoalification from the late Silurian (Pridoli) Ludford Lane and Early Devonian (Lochkovian) North Brown Clee Hill Lagerstätten. One of the chief characteristics of eophytes is that they produced cryptospores. Taxa with in situ spores contain either permanent dyads or tetrads, including both naked or envelope enclosed forms. Co-occurring plants produced trilete spores and are grouped with the protracheophytes or tracheophytes (‘rhyniophytes’). When originally proposed the eophytes were considered to be sister group to the polysporangiophytes (protracheophytes + tracheophytes). However, it seems more likely, based on cryptospore distribution, that they are the basal most stem group land plants (embryophytes) and are sister group to all other land plants (bryophytes + tracheophytes). In this talk I will discuss the reasoning behind placing the eophytes as stem group embryophytes and introduce a new taxon of eophyte.