Abstract
This paper reports fossil plants of Archaeamphora longicervia gen. et sp. nov. Li from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation, northeastern China. The plants are herbaceous and similar to modern sarraceniaceans in having spirally arranged developed/underdeveloped pitchers and phyllodia-like leaves that have parallel major veins and reticulate meshes, distinctive honey-spoon-like structures and porous glands. The intimately associated seeds are reticulate-tuberculate and winged, resembling sarraceniacean seeds. The unique pitcher and characteristic seed suggest a relationship to Sarraceniaceae. The relationship to Angiosperms is also supported with fossil molecule oleanane found from Archaeamphora, using GC-MS. Archaeamphora demonstrates the earliest carnivorous plant and the only fossil record of pitcher plants. Also, as the third genus of the oldest Angiosperms, the existence of such a derived taxon suggests that flowering plants should have originated much earlier.
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