2004/10/28 by Philippe Gerrienne, Brigitte Meyer‐Berthaud, Muriel Fairon‐Demaret +2 · 117 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Plant Diversity and Evolution #Plant and Fungal Species Descriptions #Fern and Epiphyte Biology #Paleozoic #Lineage (genetic) #Devonian #Biology #Habit #Botany #Pollination #Paleontology #Pollen
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1102491
published in Science 306(5697), 856-858 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
openalex publication_date 2004/10/28 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
The emergence of the seed habit in the Middle Paleozoic was a decisive evolutionary breakthrough. Today, seed plants are the most successful plant lineage, with more than 250,000 living species. We have identified a middle Givetian (385 million years ago) seed precursor from Belgium predating the earliest seeds by about 20 million years. Runcaria is a small, radially symmetrical, integumented megasporangium surrounded by a cupule. The megasporangium bears an unopened distal extension protruding above the multilobed integument. This extension is assumed to be involved in anemophilous pollination. Runcaria sheds new light on the sequence of character acquisition leading to the seed.