Deming Wang

• PhD
• Professor at Peking University

The ovules of the earliest seed plants in the Late Devonian (Famennian) are usually detached because of preservation and are surrounded by a cupule. The functions of these ovules need more research. Based on fossil plants collected during fieldwork, we prepared numerous specimens using steel needles and made many transverse sections of ovules. As a...

The earliest ovules or seeds widely reported from the Late Devonian (Famennian) are crucial for understanding the evolution of seed plants. Cosmosperma , the first Devonian seed documented in China and East Asia, is characterized by cupules with multiple segments enclosing a single ovule and covered by prickles. Two new Cosmosperma species, Cosmosp...

The ovules or seeds (fertilized ovules) with wings are widespread and especially important for wind dispersal. However, the earliest ovules in the Famennian of the Late Devonian are rarely known about the dispersal syndrome and usually surrounded by a cupule. From Xinhang, Anhui, China, we now report a new taxon of Famennian ovules, Alasemenia tria...

The ovules or seeds (fertilized ovules) with wings are widespread and especially important for wind dispersal. However, the earliest ovules in the Famennian of the Late Devonian are rarely known about the dispersal syndrome and usually surrounded by a cupule. From Xinhang, Anhui, China, we now report a new taxon of Famennian ovules, Alasemenia tria...

The earliest forests in the Devonian were reported from only four localities worldwide. The tree lycopsids, sometimes as the primary elements of Devonian forests, had evolved several types of rooting systems. In recent years, we found and excavated a Late Devonian (Famennian, 374-359 Ma) lycopsid forest from Zhejiang Province, China. The fossil for...

The ovules or seeds (fertilized ovules) with wings are widespread and especially important for wind dispersal. However, the earliest ovules in the Famennian of the Late Devonian are rarely known about the dispersal syndrome and usually surrounded by a cupule. From Xinhang, Anhui, China, we report a new taxon of Famennian ovules, Alasemenia tria gen...

The ovules or seeds (fertilized ovules) with wings are widespread and especially important for wind dispersal. However, the earliest ovules in the Famennian of the Late Devonian are rarely known about the dispersal syndrome and usually surrounded by a cupule. From Xinhang, Anhui, China, we report a new taxon of Famennian ovules, Alasemenia tria gen...

Forests appeared during the Middle to Late Devonian, but Devonian forests and their compositions are still rarely known. Xinhang forest was reported as the largest Devonian forest, with lycopsid trees of Guangdedendron micrum Wang et al. A fern-like plant Xinhangia spina Yang and Wang with shoots and anatomy, was previously described from this fore...

The ovules or seeds (fertilized ovules) with wings are widespread and especially important for wind dispersal. However, the earliest ovules in the Famennian of the Late Devonian are rarely known about the dispersal syndrome and usually surrounded by a cupule. From Xinhang, Anhui, China, we report a new taxon of Famennian ovules, Alasemenia tria gen...

Background Guangdedendron micrum is the Late Devonian tree lycopsid that made up Xinhang fossil forest in Anhui, China, showing the earliest stigmarian rooting system. Based on new specimens of this lycopsid, the roots bearing rootlets, terminal parts of stems, vegetative leaves and monosporangiate strobili containing megaspores are researched in d...

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Simple Summary In 2019, Late Devonian Xinhang forest was reported from Anhui Province, China. It represents the earliest forest in Asia and China, and was regarded as monospecific with numerous small trees of the lycopsid. Recently, we found some other plants from the forest and now erect a new fern-like plant named Xinhangia. It is small with heig...

Simple Summary The lycopsid Sublepidodendron is cosmopolitan in the Late Devonian and Early Carboniferous. Sublepidodendron grabaui is known from several localities of the Upper Devonian Wutong Formation in South China, with its overall morphology and male reproductive organs (i.e., the microsporangiate strobili and microspores) studied previously....

Tree lycopsids prospered in the Late Devonian and constituted a major part of the Late Paleozoic forest ecosystem that deeply impacted the Earth’s climate. However, the fertile organs of these early tree lycopsids display low morphological disparity, which has hampered further knowledge about their ecological habit. Here, we report Omprelostrobus g...

Background Previous studies have discussed the special structural adaptations of Late Palaeozoic lycopsids, for example, the dispersal potential of reproductive organs. Based on materials from the Upper Devonian Wutong Formation in Changxing County, Zhejiang Province, China, we now analyze the morphometric and perform some calculation to evaluate t...

The earliest ovules in the Late Devonian (Famennian) are surrounded by a cupule functioning as protection and for pollination, and generally have free integumentary lobes. Here we report a new taxon from the Famennian of China, Guazia dongzhiensis gen. et sp. nov. The terminally borne ovule is apparently acupulate (without cupule) and has four radi...

The evolution of vascular plants during the Devonian Period has had great impacts on terrestrial ecosystems through innovations of key characters such as leaves, heterospory, seed reproduction, and woods. Here we report a new plant, Qianshouia mira n. gen. n. sp., from the Upper Devonian Wutong (Wutung) Formation of Fanwan section, Changxing County...

Since the Late Paleozoic, forests have become distributed worldwide and significantly changed the Earth’s climate and landscapes, but the record of forests is rare in the Devonian (419–359Ma in age) when they first appeared. From the Upper Devonian (Famennian with the age of 372–359 Ma) of Xinhang, Anhui, China, we report a very large in situ fores...

Plant rhizomes and roots occur in terrestrial ecosystems since at least the Devonian, but the documentation of belowground plant tissues is sparse in the fossil record. In this study, fossils representing belowground rhizomes and roots are described from the top of the Upper Yaopo Formation (Middle Jurassic), at the Yuejiapo section, Mentougou Dist...

Premise of research. Rooting structures were major contributors to Devonian global change, but anatomically preserved plant roots are rare from this period. We report a new type of plant axis from the Upper Devonian strata of South China that contains a protostele, relatively extensive secondary xylem, and adventitious root traces. Methodology. The...

Your personalized Share Link ( before July 01, 2018): https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1X1gC2weQXO-V The radiation of vascular plants during the mid to late Paleozoic has been considered one of the most important drivers of change in Earth's terrestrial environments. Non-marine deposits of the South China Block document plant diversification through...

Background The earliest seed plants in the Late Devonian (Famennian) are abundant and well known. However, most of them lack information regarding the frond system and reconstruction. Cosmosperma polyloba represents the first Devonian ovule in China and East Asia, and its cupules, isolated synangiate pollen organs and pinnules have been studied in...

The Late Devonian (Famennian) witnessed the diversification of early seed plants (spermatophytes), which usually possess cupulate ovules as their female reproductive organs. Previous studies have described two such plants with uni-ovulate cupules from South China. Here, a new seed plant, Calycosperma qii gen. et sp. nov., is reported from the Upper...

Sphenophyllum was an important and long-surviving sphenopsid genus in the Paleozoic floras, with a worldwide distribution. A new species, Sphenophyllum changxingense sp. nov., is described from the Upper Devonian Wutong Formation of Changxing County, Zhejiang Province, China. This plant is characterized by two orders of slender axes and wedge-shape...

Shougangia bella from the Late Devonian (Famennian) of South China is a fern-like plant known for its morphology and now provided with anatomy and a reconstruction. Its stems contain a dissected stele with a four-ribbed and an elongate-curved primary xylem segments changing to three elongate and slightly curved segments. Primary branches have a dis...

A heterosporous lycopsid plant is described from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Wutong Formation, Changxing County, northern Zhejiang Province, China. The plant is known for its terminal and many detached megasporangiate strobili, most of which do not have sporophylls preserved. Some megasporangiate strobili are closely associated with a vegetative...

Significance The roots and rhizomes of early vascular plants, and their interactions with soils, are poorly documented. Here we report on the complex, belowground rhizome systems of an Early Devonian plant, and their contribution to the formation of the earliest record of rooted red-bed soils in Asia. Our specimens predate the earliest trees with d...

Numerous plant cuticles were collected from five sections in the Lower–Middle Devonian of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, China. Based on these cuticles and published data, we recognize five types of stomata or stoma-like pores in Devonian plants, i.e., anomocytic, rosette and complex types of stomata, pores like in Nematothallus, and pores within th...

Pollen organ Telangiopsis sp., associated with but not attached to vegetative fronds, has been collected from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Wutong Formation, Dongzhi County, Anhui Province, China. Fertile axes with terminal pollen organs are dichotomous for 2-4 times and may be proximally attached by fragmentary pinnules. Pollen organs are synangi...

Many ovules of Late Devonian (Famennian) seed plants have been well studied. However, because few taxa occur with anatomically preserved stems and/or petioles, the vascular system of these earliest spermatophytes is little understood and available data come mostly from Euramerica. There remains great controversy over the anatomical differentiation...

The earliest known ovules in the Late Devonian (Famennian) are borne terminally on fertile branches and are typically enclosed in a cupule. Among these ovules are some that have terete integumentary lobes with little or no fusion. Here, we report a new taxon, Latisemenia longshania, from the Famennian of South China, which bears cupulate ovules tha...

Monilistrobus Wang et Berry is a fossil lycopsid reported from the Upper Devonian Wutong Formation of Jiangsu Province, China, and includes only the type species Monilistrobus yixingensis Wang et Berry. Along a single fertile axis, Monilistrobus has cone-like structures separated by and alternated with a length of vegetative region, which is an imp...

The arborescent lycopsid Sublepidodendron grabaui was widely distributed in the Late Devonian of South China. Its morphology and anatomy have been described, but the microsporangiate strobilus remains unclear. New material collected from the Guanshan Member of the Wutong Formation in Zhejiang Province allowed us to provide more details of this plan...

Late Devonian Minostrobus chaohuensis is one of the earliest monosporangiate-strobilate isoetaleans. Based on new material of this plant, the vegetative axis and microsporangiate strobilus are studied in detail, and the whole plant knowledge is summarized. The vegetative axis is isotomously branched. The stem is up to 55 mm in diameter with helical...

Seed plants underwent first major evolutionary radiation in the Late Devonian (Famennian), as evidenced by the numerous ovules described to date. However, the early pollen organs are underrepresented, so that their structure and evolution remain poorly known. Here we report a new taxon of pollen organ Placotheca minuta from the Late Devonian. The s...

New material collected from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) Haikou Formation of Yunnan Province, southwestern China, reveals details of anatomy of the cladoxylopsid Panxia gabata Y. Wang et Berry. The primary xylem in main axes consists of numerous primary xylem segments, most of which are radially directed and elongate. Some xylem segments are conn...

With the exception of angiosperms, the main euphyllophyte lineages (i.e. ferns sensu lato, progymnosperms and gymnosperms) had evolved laminate leaves by the Late Devonian. The evolution of laminate leaves, however, remains unclear for early-diverging ferns, largely represented by fern-like plants. This study presents a novel fern-like taxon with p...

Late Devonian Minostrobus chaohuensis is one of the earliest monosporangiate-strobilate isoetaleans. Based on new material of this plant, the vegetative axis and microsporangiate strobilus are studied in detail, and the whole plant knowledge is summarized. The vegetative axis is isotomously branched. The stem is up to 55 mm in diameter with helical...

An anatomically preserved lycopsid, Lobodendron fanwanense gen. et sp. nov. Liu, Wang, Xue & Meng, is described from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Wutong Formation of Changxing County, Zhejiang Province, China. The fossil plant bears slender, dichotomously branched axes. The vascular strand consists of solid terete primary xylem and lobed secondar...

Seed plants with ovules were abundant in the Late Devonian of Euramerica and they contribute significantly to our understanding of their early history. However, coeval ovules have been scarce in other regions of the world. Specimens of the seed plant Cosmosperma polyloba gen. et sp. nov. Wang et al. were recently obtained from the Upper Devonian (F...

New megafossil and microfossil data indicate four episodes in the diversification of Silurian-Early Carboniferous land plants of South China, a relatively continuous regional record. Plant diversity increased throughout, but the rising curve was punctuated by three major falls. There were peaks of origination in the Ludlow-Pragian, Givetian, late F...

Based on specimens from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) of Zhanyi County, Yunnan Province, China, we reinvestigate the morphology and anatomy of the protolepidodendralean lycopsid Minarodendron cathaysiense (Schweitzer & Cai) Li. New features of this plant include the stem up to 60 mm wide, axes dichotomizing as many as seven times, and microphylls...

Heterosporous lycopsids with monosporangiate strobili are highly diverse in the Carboniferous, but their early evolution is poorly understood. The Late Devonian Minostrobus chaohuensis was included in this plant group, but features of the strobili were unclear in detail. Permineralized material of M. chaohuensis was sectioned and ground in series t...

Kunia venusta gen. et sp. nov. is reported from the late Middle Devonian (Givetian) Haikou Formation near Kunming City, Yunnan Province, China. This plant has three orders of naked axes that divide pseudomonopodially. The second-and third-order axes occur in a helix. Fertile appendages are distantly spaced and helically inserted to the third-order...

Pauthecophyton gracile gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Lower Devonian (Pragian) Posongchong Formation near Zhichang Village of Wenshan District, southeastern Yunnan, China. This plant consists of pseudomonopodially and dichotomously branched main axes and lateral branches. Some laterals are pseudomonopodially divided producing three to four...

A new plant, Dibracophyton acrovatum gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Lower Devonian (Pragian) Posongchong Formation of Wenshan District, southeastern Yunnan, China. The plant has creeping axes from which arise vegetative and fertile axes. The vegetative axes helically bear lateral dichotomous appendages with curved or round tips. The fertil...

Archaeopteris macilenta is one of the most widespread plants in the Late Devonian. Based on fossils from the Frasnian Huangjiadeng Formation, Yichang District of Hubei Province, for the first time we study in detail the anatomy of this progymnosperm plant in South China. Ultimate axes are protostelic with three xylem sympodia and lack secondary tis...

A new species of early vascular plant, Adoketophyton parvulum sp. nov., is described from the Lower Devonian (Pragian) Posongchong Formation of Yunnan, China. The plant is composed of main axes, lateral vegetative branches and isotomous or anisotomous fertile axes. The vegetative axes branch isotomously or pseudomonopodially in three dimensions, wi...

Abstract  A new plant, Zhenglia radiata gen. et sp. nov., from the Posongchong Formation (Early Devonian, Pragian age) of the Wenshan District of southeastern Yunnan Province, China is a small herbaceous lycopsid. The aerial branches divide into foliar and fertile stems. The arrangement of the leaf bases on the stem shows lepidodendroid-like phyllo...

The enhanced chemical weathering by rooted vascular plants during the Silurian-Devonian period played a crucial role in altering global biogeochemical cycles and atmospheric environments; however, the documentation of early root morphology and physiology is scarce because the existing fossils are mostly incomplete. Here, we report an entire, uproot...

: Well-preserved specimens of Hamatophyton verticillatum collected from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Wutong Formation of Chaohu district, Anhui Province, South China, display more complete fertile axes in three orders and multiple divisions. Comparisons indicate that Hamatophyton possibly does not have palmate planate sterile leaves but hook-like...

: New materials from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Wutong Formation of Chizhou District, Anhui Province, South China, allow description of fertile and sterile characters of Archaeopteris halliana. This plant has penultimate axes attached by sterile leaves and paired ultimate branches in the same ontogenetic spiral. Sterile leaves are narrowly cune...

Based on tectonic, lithological and biotic features, 11 regions may be recognized in the Devonian Period of China. The Junggar and Hinggan regions are characterized by thick sequences of clastic rocks associated with volcanic rocks; carbonate deposits were only local, sometimes consisting of isolated reefs. The Tarim region was characterized by int...

Middle Devonian (Givetian) plant Ramophyton givetianum gen. et sp. nov. is reported from north Xinjiang of northwest China. All axes of this plant are smooth. First‐order axes are pseudomonopodial in habit and bear alternately attached second‐order axes in the same plane. Numerous ultimate appendages are arranged in whorls on both first‐ and second...

Tenuisa frasniana gen. et sp. nov. is reported from the Late Devonian (Frasnian) Hunan Province of South China. Its axes are naked and narrow. Fertile stem is pseudomonopodial in branching and bears distichous lateral units. Fertile lateral units are subopposite and pseudomonopodial in the proximal part of stem, while they are alternate and isotomo...

The Late Devonian (earliest Frasnian) plant Metacladophyton ziguinum sp. nov. is described from Hubei Province, south China. Sterile main axes and first‐ and second‐order lateral axes possess linear spines that are sometimes dichotomous. Paired second‐order axes have a common base and occur oppositely and decussately on first‐order axes to form fou...

Zosterophyllum longa sp. nov. is reported from the Lower Devonian Pingyipu Formation, Jiangyou District, northern Sichuan of China. This new plant has vertically elongate sporangia differing from all known species of Zosterophyllum, demonstrating morphological variations in Zosterophyllophytina. New materials of Zosterophyllum yunnanicum from the L...

Two new species of Zosterophyllum Penhallow (Zosterophyllum qujingense sp. nov. and Zosterophyllum xishanense sp. nov.), respectively from the Yulongsi Formation (Late Silurian, Přídolí) and Xiaxishancun Formation (Early Devonian, Lochkovian) of Qujing, Yunnan, China, are described. Both are small and naked plants with spikes of radially arranged s...

This paper gives a summary of the representative lycopsids of the Middle-Late Devonian, and investigates the variation and differentiation of their reproduction structures, root organs and anatomical characters. Concerning the taxonomic treatment, some of these lycopsids can be attributed to Lycopodiales, Protolepidodendrales and Isoetales sensu la...

Hamatophyton verticillatum is one of the most widespread plants in the Late Devonian (Famennian) of South China. Using fossils from the coeval Yuelushan Formation, Yiyang District, northern Hunan Province, we reinvestigated this important plant. Its vegetative axes pseudomonopodially branch and possess ribbed internodes and nodes bearing undivided...

A previous study of the Late Devonian (Famennian) sphenopsid Rotafolia songziensis Wang, Hao, and Wang provided detailed descriptions of the morphology and a sketchy illustration of a three-ribbed primary xylem. The present anatomical data show that the protostele of this plant also has four-ribbed primary xylem of exarch maturation. Located at the...

A sphenopsid from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Xiejingsi Formation, south-western Hubei Province, China, previously named as various species in Sphenophyllum, Hamatophyton, Bowmanites and Sphenophyllostachys, is now reinvestigated and assigned to a new taxon, Rotafolia songziensis gen. et comb. nov. Its ribbed axes are anisotomous and possess sli...

A new herbaceous lycopsid, Hubeiia dicrofollia gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Xiejingsi Formation (Late Devonian) of Hubei Province, China. Its stems are isotomously dichotomized. Leaf bases are circular or slightly elliptical in shape and arranged in low helices or alternating pseudowhorls. Persistent leaves are divided into four segments...

A new species of early vascular land plant, Estinnophyton yunnanense, is described from the Lower Devonian (upper Pragian) Posongchong Formation at Zhichang village, Gumu Town, Wenshan District, Yunnan Province, China. This plant possesses aerial stems with isotomous branching. The leaves are slender, once- or twice-bifurcated, and arranged in low...

Bracteophyton variatum gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Lower Devonian (upper Pragian-lower Emsian) Xujiachong Formation, Qujing District of eastern Yunnan, China. The smooth axes are mainly isotomous. They terminate in short and compact strobili consisting of lateral fertile units arranged helically. Each fertile unit comprises one or two br...

C.-S. Li and Edwards [Palaeontology 35 (1992) 257–272)] revised Zosterophyllum subverticillatum X.-X. Li and C.-Y. Cai (1977) as Adoketophyton subverticillatum. This distinctive plant, of Pragian age (Lower Devonian) from the Posongchong Formation at Zhichang village of Gumu in the Wenshan district of Yunnan Province, China, has terminal strobili c...

The study of a Late Devonian arborescent lycopsid, Sublepidodendron songziense Chen 1977, from the Hsiehchingssu (Xiejingsi) Formation of Hubei Province and the Wutung (Wutong) Formation of Anhui Province, PR China, provides new insight into its holistic architecture and taxonomic affinity. The study allows several interrelated organ species to be...

A new vascular plant, Hsüa deflexa sp. nov., is documented from the Lower Devonian ((upper) Pragian-lower Emsian) Xujiachong Formation, near Xujiachong village, Qujing District, eastern Yunnan, South China. In three dimensions, the branching system comprises a robust creeping main axis and comparatively slender erect lateral axes inserted oppositel...

We describe the tracheid ultrastructure of Hsüa deflexa from the Lower Devonian (upper Pragian-lower Emsian) Xujiachong Formation, Qujing District, Yunnan Province, China. Scanning electron microscopy study of fusainized and permineralized tracheids shows that they are of G-type, bearing many irregularly distributed perforations. The cell wall cons...

New fossils of the early Devonian plant Eophyllophyton bellum provide morphological and anatomical information that contributes to an understanding of the origin and early evolution of the megaphyll. These earliest leaves are characterized by leaf divisions, apparently arranged in several planes, that possess branching venation and a mesophyll of l...

Abstract  Fossil plants Hedeia sinica Hao et Gensel 1998, Huia gracilis Wang et Hao 2001 and Guangnania cuneata Wang et Hao are described from the Lower Devonian Xujiachong Formation, the Qujing district, eastern Yunnan, China. They contribute to our knowledge of the flora in this district. Based on the occurrence of common plants (Hedeia, Huia, Gu...

Guangnania cuneata gen. et sp. nov. has been collected from the Lower Devonian (Pragian) Posongchong Formation of southeast Yunnan and the (Pragian-early Emsian) Xujiachong Formation of east Yunnan, China. The plant possesses dichotomous branches. The fertile region consists of lateral sporangia attached helically. Each sporangium is elongate cunea...

Sublepidodendron is a common megafossil plant in the Late Devonian of China, but historically the generic delimitation based on leaf bases masked its true systematic position. A reinvestigation of S. songziense from the Late Devonian Hsiehchingssu Formation, Hubei, China, provides new insights into its internal anatomy and reproductive morphology....

... The Xiaxishancun, Xitun, Guijiatun and Xujiachong formations in the Qujing district of eastern Yunnan are type sections of the Early Devonian marine-continent transitional sediments in South China. ... 1). This formation is conformably underlain by the Guijiatun Formation. ...

A new genus and species, Polythecophyton demissum Hao, Gensel and Wang, is described from the Posongchong Formation of Pragian age in the Wenshan district of southeastern Yunnan. This plant consists of major axes, which divide anisotomously to produce irregularly to helically arranged lateral branches. Lateral branches dichotomize once, producing a...