Palaeoaldrovanda splendens

Taxobox
fossil_range = Late Cretaceous
name = "Palaeoaldrovanda splendens"


regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Caryophyllales
familia = Droseraceae
genus = "Palaeoaldrovanda"
species = "P. splendens"
binomial = "Palaeoaldrovanda splendens"
binomial_authority = Knobloch & Mai (1984)

"Palaeoaldrovanda splendens" is an extinct species of carnivorous plant. It is thought to be the evolutionary ancestor of species in the genus "Aldrovanda".

"P. splendens" is only known from seed fragments found in the late Turonian-SantonianKlikov beds of the Czech Republic. [Knobloch, E. & D.H. Mai 1984. Neue Gattungen nach Früchten and Samen aus dem Cenoman bis Maastricht (Kreide) von Mitteleuropa. "Feddes Repert. (Berlin)" 95: 3-41.] [Knobloch, E. & D.H. Mai 1986. Monographie der Früchte und Samen in der Kreide von Mitteleuropa. "Rozpravy ústredního ústavu geologickénho Praha" 47: 1–219.] They represent the second oldest known remains of a carnivorous plant, after "Archaeamphora longicervia", a pitcher plant from the Early Cretaceous.

Anderson "et al." (2005) note that "synapomorphic characters that link the fossils seeds [of "P. splendens"] to extant "Aldrovanda" include hard testa with an outer epidermis of palisade cells and with a smooth, strongly reflecting surface, short micropylar neck, and extruding, pointed chalazal area". [Anderson, C.L., K. Bremer & E.M. Friis 2005. [http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/reprint/92/10/1737.pdf Dating Phylogenetically Basal Eudicots Using rbcL Sequences and Multiple Fossil Reference Points] . "American Journal of Botany" 92(10): 1737–1748.]

References

*Degreef, J.D. 1997. PDFlink| [http://carnivorousplants.org/cpn/articles/CPNv26n3p93_97.pdf Fossil "Aldrovanda".] |263 KiB "Carnivorous Plant Newsletter" 26(3): 93–97.