2014/03/20 by Benjamin Bomfleur, Stephen McLoughlin, Vivi Vajda · 3 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Fern and Epiphyte Biology #Plant Diversity and Evolution #Plant Taxonomy and Phylogenetics
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1249884
openalex publication_date 2014/03/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Rapidly permineralized fossils can provide exceptional insights into the evolution of life over geological time. Here, we present an exquisitely preserved, calcified stem of a royal fern (Osmundaceae) from Early Jurassic lahar deposits of Sweden in which authigenic mineral precipitation from hydrothermal brines occurred so rapidly that it preserved cytoplasm, cytosol granules, nuclei, and even chromosomes in various stages of cell division. Morphometric parameters of interphase nuclei match those of extant Osmundaceae, indicating that the genome size of these reputed "living fossils" has remained unchanged over at least 180 million years-a paramount example of evolutionary stasis.