Agora Paleobotanica Welcome to Papers from the 4Th International

Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 108, 337–338, 2019 (for 2017)

Agora Paleobotanica Welcome to papers from the 4th International Meeting of Agora Paleobotanica – Preface Borja Cascales-Min˜ana1*, Cyrille Prestianni2 and Philippe Gerrienne3 1 CNRS, University of Lille, UMR 8198 – Evo-Eco-Paleo, Lille, France. Email: [email protected] 2 OD Earth and Life, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium. 3 Palaeobiogeology-Palaeobotany-Palaeopalynology, UR Geology, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium. *Corresponding author

ABSTRACT: On 7–9 July 2016, the palaeontological association Agora Paleobotanica organised its fourth international meeting. It took place at the National History Museum of Brussels and was attended by 45 delegates. This special volume of the Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh compiles key papers presented at this meeting. The topics covered include a wide variety of Devonian to Miocene plant taxa, with exciting new data on both mega- and microfossils.

KEY WORDS: Agora Paleobotanica, Brussels, meeting, palaeobotany, palaepalynology.

This special volume of the Earth and Environmental Science material from Germany, depicts for the first time the fungal Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh compiles key distribution throughout a large portion of a fossil plant. Rıós- papers presented at the 4th International Agora Paleobotanica Santos & Cevallos-Ferriz (2018) provide a set of anatomical Meeting, which took place at the National History Museum analyses of several wood remains from the Jurassic to the of Brussels, 7–9 July 2016. Agora Paleobotanica is an interna- Paleocene from Mexico and describe, among others, new tional association that promotes research and acquisition of Agathoxylon and Taxodioxylon species. Liu et al. (2018) report knowledge in all fields of palaeobotany and palynology. This on Zhangwuia, an unexpected plant fossil organ from the association, originally formed by researchers of southwestern Jurassic of China that probably represents an intermediate Europe, currently includes worldwide teams and puts a special link between the Bennettitales and the angiosperms. Este´vez- emphasis on young researchers. The 2016 meeting had 45 Gallardo et al. (2018) provide new data from the Albian delegates presenting 29 abstracts. This special issue comprises (Lower Cretaceous) of the Iberian Peninsula. They show the 11 articles covering a wide variety of plant groups, ranging first evidence of plant–insect interaction with aquatic angio- from the Devonian to the Miocene, and including both mega- sperms belonging to the genera Plufolia and Aquatifolia fossils and plant microremains. (Nymphaeales). Sender et al. (2018) show new evidence of Three papers are dedicated to the Paleozoic Era. They describe Tempskya, an extinct tree fern, from Albian deposits of Iberian Devonian material and provide new data about the early diver- Peninsula, which contributes to fill the distributional gap of sification of land plants and the earliest forested ecosystems. this fern during the Early Cretaceous in Eurasia. Gomez et al. Cascales-Minãna et al. (2018) document a new highly diverse (2018) present a new locality with silicified permineralised evi- palynoflora from the Lower Devonian Posongchong flora dence belonging to Geinitzia (Coniferales) and ‘Lomatopteris’ (SW China), including a new Aneurospora species, and point superstes (angiosperm eudicot) from the Turonian (Late Creta- at important differences of plant diversity between Gondwanan ceous) of France. and Laurussian floras. Orlova et al. (2018) redescribe Kosso- Finally, two papers report recent Cenozoic investigations. viella timanica Petrosjan, a Frasnian (Upper Devonian) hetero- New data on Icacinaceae are documented by Del Rio et al. sporous lycopsid from Russia, which improves our knowledge (2018), who describe five new Iodes species from the Paleocene about the early evolution of those important plants. Tanrattana Rivecourt deposits (France). Hernańde-Damiań et al. (2018) et al. (2018) describe a new Callixylon species (Archaeopteridales) describe Staphylea ochoterenae, a new species from Miocene from the Famennian of Mader el Mrakib (Morocco). This new amber of Mexico, representing the first fossil record of a Callixylon evidence increases the geographical distribution of Staphyleaceae flower. the taxon and suggests that northern Gondwana may have been favourable to the establishment of diverse communities of these early trees. Six papers explore the Mesozoic plant fossil record. Harper 1. Acknowledgements et al. (2018) provide a detailed study about three different We warmly thank all the authors and reviewers who contributed fungal remains found in a fern. This study, based on Triassic to this special issue.

Downloaded6 2018 from Thehttps://www.cambridge.org/core Royal Society of Edinburgh.. IP address: doi:10.1017/S1755691018000828 194.254.129.45, on 22 Dec 2020 at 10:02:56, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755691018000828 338 BORJA CASCALES-MIN˜ ANA ET AL. 2. References Flora in low latitude North America. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh this issue, Cascales-Minãna, B., Xue, J. Z., Rial, G., Gerrienne, P., Huang, P. & 471–78. DOI: 10.1017/S1755691018000701. Steemans, P. 2018. Revisiting the spore assemblages from the Liu, Z.-J., Hou, Y.-M. & Wang, X. 2018. Zhangwuia: an enigmatic Lower Devonian Posongchong Formation of Wenshan, Yunnan organ with a bennettitalean appearance and enclosed ovules. Province, southwestern China. Earth and Environmental Science Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh this issue, 339– Society of Edinburgh this issue, 419–28. DOI: 10.1017/ 54. DOI: 10.1017/S1755691018000233. S1755691018000257. Del Rio, C., Thomas, R. & De Franceschi, D. 2018. Fruits of Icacina- Orlova,O.A.,Zavialova,N.,Snigirevsky,S.M.,Jurina,A.&Lidskaya, ceae Miers from the Palaeocene of the Paris Basin (Oise, France). A. 2018. Kossoviella timanica Petrosjan emend. from the Upper Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society Devonian of North Timan: morphology and spore ultrastructure. of Edinburgh this issue, 459–69. DOI: 10.1017/S1755691018000221. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society Este´vez-Gallardo, P., Sender, L. M., Mayoral, E. & Diez, J. B. 2018. of Edinburgh this issue, 355–72. DOI: 10.1017/S1755691018000269. First evidence of insect herbivory on Albian aquatic angiosperms Rıós-Santos, C. & Cevallos-Ferriz, S. R. S. 2018. Upper Jurassic, of NE Iberian Peninsula. Earth and Environmental Science Trans- Upper Cretaceous and Palaeocene conifer woods from Mexico. actions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh this issue, 429–35. DOI: Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society 10.1017/S1755691018000555. of Edinburgh this issue, 399–418. DOI: 10.1017/S1755691018000245. Gomez, B., Daviero-Gomez, V., Garcia, G., Caner, L., Boura, A., Sender, L. M., Nishida, H. & Diez, J. B. 2018. The extinct tree fern Barral, A., Cantinolle, P. & Valentin, X. 2018. Silicified plant Tempskya Corda from the Albian of Spain: palaeophyto- megafossils from the upper Turonian of Vienne, western France. geographical and palaeoenvironmental implications. Earth and Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of of Edinburgh this issue, 449–57. DOI: 10.1017/S1755691018000105. Edinburgh this issue, 437–48. DOI: 10.1017/S1755691018000543. Harper, C. J., Galtier, J., Taylor, T. N., Taylor, E. L., Ro¨ßler, R. & Tanrattana, M., Meyer-Berthaud, B. & Decombeix, A.-L. 2018. Krings, M. 2018. Distribution of fungi in a Triassic fern stem. Earth Callixylon wendtii sp. nov., a new species of archaeopteridalean and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of progymnosperm from the Late Devonian of Anti-Atlas, Morocco. Edinburgh this issue, 387–98. DOI: 10.1017/S175569101800021X. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society Hernańdez-Damiań, A. L., Cevallos-Ferriz, S. R. S. & Huerta- of Edinburgh this issue, 373–85. DOI: 10.1017/S1755691017000457. Vergara, A. R.. 2018. Fossil flower of Staphylea L. from the Miocene amber of Mexico: new evidence of the Boreotropical

MS received: 3 September 2018. Accepted for publication 2 October 2018

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