A Fruit-Bearing Angiosperm from the Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China

• DOI: 10.4236/vp.2024.102015
• Publication Date: 2024-06-27T06:46:06Z
• Authors: Gang Han; Jie Sun; Xin Wang
• Keywords: Inner mongolia

Although pre-Cretaceous angiosperms were rejected or suspected by some palaeobotanists, their existence in the Jurassic appears increasingly plausible, especially when recent palaeobotanical progress and phylogenomic studies are taken into consideration. An herbaceous whole plant of an angiosperm has been reported from Jiulongshan Formation, but its implication for evolution is under-appreciated. Here, exactly same fossil locality, we report a fruit-bearing angiosperm, Daohugoufructus sinensis gen. et sp. nov, which was previously wronged as gnetalean plant. The unique fruits on elongated scapes distinguish all known gymnosperms suggest angiospermous affinity. With physically connected fruits, leaves, branch, sheds otherwise unavailable light early evolution.