Wairarapaia mildenhallii gen. et sp. nov., a New Araucarian Cone Related to Wollemia from the Cretaceous (Albian‐Cenomanian) of New Zealand

Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of the family Araucariaceae based on the DNA sequences of eight genes

“…Setoguchi et al [7] constructed a phylogenetic tree of W. nobilis, 10 Agathis species and 19 Araucaria species based on the chloroplast rbcL gene. In this tree, which has been supported by many paleontologists [8,9] , W. nobilis lies in the basal position of the Araucariaceae, and Agathis is sister to Araucaria. However, a number of authors disagreed with this conclusion [10,11] .…”

Phylogenetic Analysis of Araucariaceae: Integrating Molecules, Morphology, and Fossils

“…The absence of seedcovering tissues in Agathis and Wollemia ( fig. 3) has been repeatedly postulated as the plesiomorphic condition of Araucariaceae (Chambers et al 1998;Setoguchi et al 1998;Cantrill and Raine 2006). This and similar hypotheses postulated for leaves and other organs were based on a different phylogenetic hypothesis for the family, in which Wollemia is sister to a clade formed by Agathis and Araucaria ( fig.…”

“…Character scorings were based on the study of herbarium specimens (Botany Collections of the Field Museum, Chicago; LH Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University, New York; and National Herbarium of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia) for extant species and on paleobotanical collections and specialized literature for fossil species (Colecció n Paleobotá nica, Museo Paleontoló gico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew, Argentina; Paleobotanical Collections, Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence; Ohio University Paleobotanical Herbarium at the Field Museum, Chicago). The morphological matrix was assembled with the aid of Mesquite software (Maddison and Maddison 2009 (Cantrill and Raine 2006;Dettmann et al 2012). Fossil araucariaceous species included in our study (table 1) are mostly represented by isolated permineralized ovulate cones, in which morphological external features are frequently preserved together with internal anatomical details (Stockey 1975;Stockey et al 1992;Cantrill and Raine 2006;Dettmann et al 2012).…”

“…The morphological matrix was assembled with the aid of Mesquite software (Maddison and Maddison 2009 (Cantrill and Raine 2006;Dettmann et al 2012). Fossil araucariaceous species included in our study (table 1) are mostly represented by isolated permineralized ovulate cones, in which morphological external features are frequently preserved together with internal anatomical details (Stockey 1975;Stockey et al 1992;Cantrill and Raine 2006;Dettmann et al 2012). Miller (1999) discussed the reasons for emphasizing ovulate cones in conifer phylogenetic analyses: in absence of proper whole-plant reconstructions (i.e., confirmed relationships of different isolated organs), conifer ovulate cones may constitute the structure preserving the major number of informative features.…”

First Evidence for Wollemi Pine-type Pollen (Dilwynites: Araucariaceae) in South America

“…This evidence, combined with the fact that Dilwynites first appears in the fossil record much later (Turonian: Late Cretaceous) than Araucaria suggests that at least some Mesozoic fossils that cannot be assigned to Araucaria can now be regarded as belonging to the stem lineage of the Agathis + Wollemia clade [24]. These fossils include winged seeds and cone scales with seed detachment scars from the Early to mid-Cretaceous in southeastern Australia [6], [62], New Zealand [63] and Alexander Island, West Antarctica [64]. It should also be noted that at least some of the pollen included in the generalized, widespread form Araucariacites australis Cookson, which extends to the Triassic in the Southern Hemisphere, and which broadly accommodates pollen of modern Araucaria and many Agathis (e.g.…”