Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rhyniopsida
Rhyniopsida
Rhyniopsida
As originally defined, the group was found not to be monophyletic since some of
its members are now known to lack vascular tissue; these have been moved to the
class Horneophytopsida, which is defined as lacking true vascular tissue.
Currently, Rhyniopsida includes the genera Huvenia, Rhynia, and
Stockmansella,[1] all from the Devonian.
One of the most important radiations for land plants occurred in the early
Devonian (Pragian), when the first certain rhyniophytes appear in the fossil
record,[1] making this rich fossil discovery of major importance to paleobotany. It
has been suggested that the poorly preserved Eohostimella, found in deposits of Reconstruction of Rhynia gwynne-
Early Silurian age (Llandovery, around 440 to 430 million years ago), may be a vaughanii[1]
rhyniophyte.[4]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Tracheophytes
Contents
Class: Rhyniopsida
1 Taxonomy Kryshtofovich 1925
2 Phylogeny
Synonyms
3 Rhynie flora
4 See also
Rhyniophyta Cronq., Takhtajan &
5 References
Zimmermann 1966
6 External links
Paratracheophyta
Taxonomy
Subphylum Rhyniophytina Banks 1968[5][6]
Family Rhyniaceae Kidston & Lang 1920 [Sciadophytaceae Krausel 1938 nom. rej.]
Phylogeny
In 2004, Crane et al. published a cladogram for the polysporangiophytes in which
the Rhyniaceae are shown as the sister group of all other tracheophytes (vascular
plants).[7] The other former "rhyniophytes", such asHorneophyton and Aglaophyton,
are placed outside the tracheophyte clade, as they did not possess true vascular tissue
(in particular did not have tracheids). However, both Horneophyton and
Aglaophyton have been tentatively classified as tracheophytes in at least one recent
cladistic analysis of Early Devonian land plants.[8]
Horneophytopsida
Aglaophyton
Huvenia
Tracheophyta Stockmansella
Rhynie flora
The general term "rhyniophytes" or "rhyniophytoids" is sometimes used for the assemblage of plants found in the Rhynie chert
Lagersttte - rich fossil beds in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and roughly coeval sites with similar flora. Used in this way, these terms
refer to a floristic assemblage of more or less related early land plants, not a taxon. Though the rhyniophytes are well represented,
plants with simpler anatomy, like Aglaophyton, are also common; there are also more complex plants, like Asteroxylon, which has a
very early form of leaves.
The Rhynie flora is unusual for the excellent preservation of early vascular plants, in addition to plants transitional between vascular
and non-vascular. The fossils contain sufficient internal detail to determine vascular organization and to distinguish sporangia and
gametangia. This has led to the recognition of species which apparently had an isomorphic alternation of generations (gametophytes
and sporophytes of similar prominence), a condition unknown among land plants today. Because the plants were buried in situ, rather
than after transport to a distant location, important morphological details and ecological information can be obtained. The site also
preserves other organisms such as arthropods andfungi that lived in the Rhynieecosystem.
See also
Polysporangiophytes
References
1. Kenrick, Paul & Crane, Peter R. (1997),The Origin and Early Diversification of Land Plants: A Cladistic Study
,
Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, ISBN 978-1-56098-730-7
2. Banks, H.P. (1968), "The early history of land plants", in Drake, E.T
., Evolution and Environment: A Symposium
Presented on the Occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Foundation of Peabody Museum of Natural History at
Yale University, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, pp. 73107
3. Gonez, P. & Gerrienne, P. (2010a), "A New Definition and a Lectotypification of the GenusCooksonia Lang 1937",
International Journal of Plant Sciences, 171 (2): 199215, doi:10.1086/648988 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F648988)
4. Niklas, K.J. (1979), "An Assessment of Chemical Features for the Classification of Plant Fossils",
Taxon, 28 (5/6):
505, doi:10.2307/1219787 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1219787)
5. Novkov & Baraba-Krasni (2015). "Modern plant systematics". Liga-Pres: 685.
doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.4745.6164(http
s://doi.org/10.13140%2FRG.2.1.4745.6164). ISBN 978-966-397-276-3.
6. "Part 2- Plantae (starting with Chlorophycota)"(http://mave.tweakdsl.nl/tn/genera2.html). Collection of genus-group
names in a systematic arrangement. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
7. Crane, P.R.; Herendeen, P. & Friis, E.M. (2004), "Fossils and plant phylogeny"(http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/
91/10/1683), American Journal of Botany, 91 (10): 168399, doi:10.3732/ajb.91.10.1683(https://doi.org/10.3732%2
Fajb.91.10.1683), PMID 21652317 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21652317), retrieved 2011-01-27
8. Hao, Shougang; Xue, Jinzhuang (2013).The Early Devonian Posongchong Flora of Y unnan - A Contribution to an
Understanding of the Evolution and Early Diversification of a
Vscular Plants. Beijing: Science Press. pp. 244245.
ISBN 978-7-03-036616-0.
External links
http://www.palaeos.com/Plants/Rhyniophytes/index.html
http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/project/dendrology/index/plantae/vascular/vascular
.html
Cladogram from Crane, Herendeen & Friis 2004
Text is available under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of theWikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.