Aglaophyton
extinct (Devonian) prevascular land plant
Aglaophyton is a genus of early Devonian fossil land plants. Its fossils have been found in the Rhynie chert. Only the sporophyte generation have been found as fossils. Only one species has been found, Aglaophyton major.
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| Reconstruction of the sporophyte of Aglaophyton, illustrating bifurcating axes with terminal sporangia, and rhizoids. Insets show a cross-section of a sporangium and the probable spores. | |
Scientific classification 
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| Clade: | Polysporangiophytes |
| Genus: | †Aglaophyton D.S.Edwards 1986 |
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Relationship to other plants change
Aglaophyton was at first thought to be a species of the vascular plant genus Rhynia which lived at the same time. Later it was discovered that it is not really a vascular plant. It had vascular tissue, but the cells had thin walls. It might therefore be a missing link between the Bryophytes and Horneophyton and the vascular plants like Rhynia.
In 2004, Crane et al. published a cladogram which has Aglaophyton as the sister group of the vascular plants.[1]
References change
- ↑ Crane, P.R.; Herendeen, P. & Friis, E.M. (2004), "Fossils and plant phylogeny", American Journal of Botany, 91 (10): 1683–99, doi:10.3732/ajb.91.10.1683, PMID 21652317, archived from the original on 2010-07-18, retrieved 2011-01-27
Other websites change
- Cladogram Archived 2012-12-04 at Archive.today from Crane, Herendeen & Friis 2004
