Fig 17 - uploaded by Miguel Serrano
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4. Principal monophyletic groups recognizable in the clade that includes Dicoma s.l. and Pasaccardoa in the phylogenetic analysis of Ortiz (2000).
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An alphabetical list of all the validly published names of taxa in Erythrocephalum (Asteraceae: Dicomeae) is presented with details of all types of which four are new lectotypifications and three new neotypifications. The names first published in Achyrothalamus and Haemastegia are also included. All names are assigned to their accepted taxa in this synopsis, the first published for the genus, which also includes an analytical key and information on distribution. © 2018, International Association for Plant Taxonomy. All rights reserved.
The results of a study on pollen morphology of the species of the genus Ptilostemon growing in Italy: Ptilostemon niveus, P. greuteri, P. gnaphaloides, P. casabonae, P. strictus, P. stellatus by light and scanning electron microscopy were presented and discussed including in relation to their taxonomic position. The exine shows two different ornamentation patterns: echinae and scabrae. This last ornamentation pattern together with other features was previously described in the genus Ptilostemon. Of 6 species analysed, P. stellatus is the only one that shows a scabrate ornamentation of exine. Two pollen types were recognized through the exine ornamentation, length of ectocolpus and polar outline: P. stellatus type and P. niveus type. A multivariate analysis (principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis) was carried out with the aim of examining potential morphological characters which could be used to identify taxa. The data suggest that several characteristics can be used to delimit the species in particular the exine ornamentation. The results of our studies support the actually subgeneric classification, and several features of the pollen grains analysed seem to have a palynoecological role and an important taxonomic significance. A dichotomous key based on palynological data is also given.
Morphological, molecular and biogeographical information bearing on early evolution of the sunflower alliance of families suggests that the clade containing the extant daisy family (Asteraceae) differentiated in South America during the Eocene, although palaeontological studies on this continent failed to reveal conclusive support for this hypothesis. Here we describe in detail Raiguenrayun cura gen. & sp. nov., an exceptionally well preserved capitulescence of Asteraceae recovered from Eocene deposits of northwestern Patagonia, Argentina.
The fossil was collected from the 47·5 million-year-old Huitrera Formation at the Estancia Don Hipólito locality, Río Negro Province, Argentina.
The arrangement of the capitula in a cymose capitulescence, the many-flowered capitula with multiseriate-imbricate involucral bracts and the pappus-like structures indicate a close morphological relationship with Asteraceae. Raiguenrayun cura and the associated pollen Mutisiapollis telleriae do not match exactly any living member of the family, and clearly represent extinct taxa. They share a mosaic of morphological features today recognized in taxa phylogenetically close to the root of Asteraceae, such as Stifftieae, Wunderlichioideae and Gochnatieae (Mutisioideae sensu lato) and Dicomeae and Oldenburgieae (Carduoideae), today endemic to or mainly distributed in South America and Africa, respectively.
This is the first fossil genus of Asteraceae based on an outstandingly preserved capitulescence that might represent the ancestor of Mutisioideae-Carduoideae. It might have evolved in southern South America some time during the early Palaeogene and subsequently entered Africa, before the biogeographical isolation of these continents became much more pronounced. The new fossil represents the first reliable point for calibration, favouring an earlier date to the split between Barnadesioideae and the rest of Asteraceae than previously thought, which can be traced back at least 47·5 million years. This is the oldest well dated member of Asteraceae and perhaps the earliest indirect evidence for bird pollination in the family.
