Fossil Ericales from the Upper Cretaceous of New Jersey

Abstract

Premise of research. Fossil flowers and other related organs of Turonian age from Cretaceous Atlantic Coastal Plain deposits in northern New Jersey are remarkable in their degree of preservation and document important events in the radiation of eudicot angiosperms relatively early in their history.Methodology. Fossils isolated from silty clays have been examined with light microscopy, TEM, SEM, and micro-CT scan to illuminate their structural details. Fossil characters were placed in data matrices that included morphological and molecular genetic characters to place them phylogenetically in order to test the hypothesis that they are extinct representatives of the modern Ericales.Pivotal results. These fossils represent a clade of three species and include flowers, inflorescences, and leaves, constituting a genus that is unique relative to existing angiosperm genera but that nonetheless shares a significant number of characters with living families placed in the broader Ericales (APG III) including Ericace...