[Aroid-l] Indeed: How old are the aroids?

From: lbmkjm at yahoo.com (brian lee) on 2008.07.30 at 20:39:40(18297) Dear Ted, Sin Yeng, and Pete, etc., Aloha. Sounds like we need to find an Early Cretaceous or older, aroid lagerstatten. Lagerstatten are fossil sites of exceptional preservation or completeness. China is discovering quite a few new sites... Perhaps someone needs to be looking at new Jurassic floras. Aloha, Leland +More --- On Tue, 7/29/08, ted.held at us.henkel.com wrote: > From: ted.held at us.henkel.com > Subject: [Aroid-l] Indeed: How old are the aroids? > To: "Discussion of aroids" > Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2008, 6:34 AM > Peter and Sin Yeng, > > Not only are your comments food for thought, they are > astonishing. You are > hinting that aroids are as old as any flowering plants, and > you also > believe that they are at least as old as the earliest > surviving angiosperm > fossils. > > Of course, we all know that if you want to be a fossil it > helps to have > hard, durable parts that can be preserved long enough to be > covered in > sediment and whatnot. I know from my own plants that > preservation of > deceased material in warm, humid environments for more than > even a couple > of hours is problematic. This means that the existential > history of many > aroids and other life forms can have proceeded along for > eons under the > fossil radar. Is this a way of teasing out some of the > secret history of > the living world? > > I am intrigued by your methodology. This thread also meshes > with our other > recent discussion of the threatened-species nature of > taxonomists, since > you seem to rely on inferences based on traditional > taxonomy. Maybe if > young potential botanists think that there's more to it > than pressing and > cataloging dry old plant parts they would more readily sign > up. Also, > funding is nine parts show biz, so conjectures like this > might stir up a > few bucks for deserving researchers. > > Please keep me (us) updated on your thinking. > > Ted._______________________________________________ > Aroid-L mailing list > Aroid-L at www.gizmoworks.com > http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

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