Comparative Studies of Leaf Cuticle Ultrastructure between Living and the Oldest Known Fossil Ginkgos in China

Leaf Cuticle Anatomy and the Ultrastructure ofGinkgoites ticoensisArchang. from the Aptian of Patagonia

“…Jurassic records in southern South America of Ginkgoites or other ginkgoalean foliage types have not been found to date, as a result of either preservation or taphonomy; this is in marked contrast to the abundant and well-preserved forms of the same age that have been recovered from the northern latitudes (Watson et al 1999;Guignard and Zhou 2005;Yang et al 2008;Nosova et al 2011).…”

“…Villar de Seoane (1997) and, more recently, Del Fueyo et al (2006) noted more precisely that the fine structure of the foliar cuticle of living G. biloba and fossil G. tigrensis are rather similar. However, these remarks concern low-magnification features that fit perfectly with the general ultrastructural features observed in the Ginkgophytes leaves, such as the presence of a cuticle proper A, which is generally composed of two or more sublayers, and the cuticular layer B (Guignard and Zhou 2005).…”

“…Within Ginkgophytes, the ultrastructure leaf cuticle of the Ginkgoaceae is characterized by having a cuticle proper A (divided into A1 and A2 layers, the first one also divided into upper [A1U] and lower [A1L] zones) and a cuticular layer B (¼B1) identical to those observed in the present G. ticoensis. For example, the foliar cuticles of the living G. biloba and the fossil Chinese G. yimaensis share a remarkably similar ultrastructural organization with G. ticoensis (Guignard and Zhou 2005).…”

“…9 and that of fig. 3, p. 154, in Guignard and Zhou 2005). Among the main differences (see tables 2-4, pp.…”

“…ceae) studied by Guignard and Zhou (2005). These authors found that the living G. biloba leaves from male and female trees and fossil G. yimaensis leaves from the Jurassic Yima Formation maintain a close resemblance with respect to their cuticle ultrastructures.…”