Early angiosperm diversification: evidence from southern South America

ARCHANGELSKY, S.; BARREDA, V.; PASSALIA, M. G.; GANDOLFO, M.A.; PRÁMPARO, M.B.; ROMERO, E.J.; CÚNEO, N.R.; ZAMUNER, A.; IGLESIAS, A.; LLORENS, M.; PUEBLA, G.G.; QUATTROCCHIO, M.; VOLKHEIMER, W.

CRETACEOUS RESEARCH (PRINT)

Elsevier

Año: 2009 p. 1073 - 1082

0195-6671

In this report, we analyze the angiosperm fossil record (micro- and megafossil)from the central and southern basins of Argentina, southern South America, depositedbetween the Late Barremian (128.3 Ma) to the end of the Coniacian (85.8 Ma). Based onthis analysis, three major stages in the evolution of the angiosperms in the southernmostregion of South America are established as follows: the Late Barremian-Aptian, the latestAptian-earliest Albian, and the Middle Albian- Coniacian. The comparison between ourfossil data set and those from Australia, North America, Asia and Europe suggest that theevolution and diversification of the angiosperms at mid and high latitudes in bothhemispheres occurred roughly synchronously.