Fossil cytoplasm is a new research topic of interest in paleobotany. Atomic force microscope （AFM） is a new technology applied widely in physics and biology; however, it is rarely used in paleontology. Here we applied AFM for the first time to study fossil cytoplasm. The results indicate that the fossil cytoplasm is heterogeneous and full of ultrastructures, just like extant cytoplasm, and that the application of AFM, especially in combination with other techniques, can reveal the subcellular details of fossil plants with more confidence.
A new genus and species of fossil elaterid namely Clavelater ningchengensis gen. et sp. nov. assigned to the subfamily Protagrypninae based on one specimen from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation near Daohugou Village, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, northeastern China is described and illustrated. This specimen displays a pair of large antennae that easily differs from those of most Mesozoic elaterids. There are around 36 species within 20 genera referred to elateroids described from the Early Jurassic to Miocene of China, with another three species within three genera reviewed, but the taxonomic assignment of at least seven species within three genera is doubted. The systematic position of fossil elateriform beetles reported from China is reviewed and the evolution of Mesozoic elateroids briefly discussed.
The diverse clam shrimp Nestoria-Keratestheria fauna is widely distributed in the Dabeigou Formation in northern Hebei and eastern Inner Mongolia of China. Its important component genus Magumbonia from the Dabeigou Formation in the Luanping Basin, northern Hebei, China, is revised on the basis of a scanning electron microscope （SEM） examination of the type species M.jingshangensis Wang, 1984, which revealed morphological features not recognized previously. These include coarse reticulation on the umbo and prominent growth lines ornamented with densely spaced, small tubercles and fine lirae.
LI GangSHEN YanbinLIU YongqingPeter BENGTSONHelmut WILLEMSHiramichi HIRANO
Three lepidopteran species, from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds （inner Mongolia, China）, are described in a new family, Mesokristenseniidae, and new genus, Mesokristensenia, which could represent the sister group of the Micropterigidae. Mesokristensenia differs from all extant Lepidoptera, but one genus （Agathiphaga, Agathiphagidae）, in retaining four median veins in the forewing, a plesiomorphy also present in many Trichoptera. Evidence for placing Mesokristensenia in the Lepidoptera includes four traits, notably a previously unrecorded autapomorphy of this insect order： beyond stem Ml＋2, vein M1 is bent and connected to cross-vein r-m （in both wing pairs）. Among 24 characters taken into account to assess the systematic position of Mesokristensenia, 12 are considered informative for a cladistic analysis involving this fossil taxon and the four suborders recognized in present-day Lepidoptera （Zeugloptera, Aglossata, Heterobathmiina, and Glossata）.
Searching for early angiosperms is a riveting activity in botany because it helps to resolve the phyiogenetic relationships among seed plants and among angiosperms themselves. One of the challenges for this job is what the target fossils look like. Most possibly early angiosperms may elude our scrutiny with gymnospermous appearances. This possibility becomes a reality in a Jurassic plant, Solaranthus gen. nov, which bears a peltaspermalean appearance and enclosed ovules. According to knowledge available hitherto, the latter feature makes it an angiosperm. However, such a feature is more likely to be eclipsed by its gymnospermous appearance. The early age and unexpected character assemblage of Solaranthus urge for a fresh look on the assumed-simple relationship between angiosperms and gymnosperms. Its resemblance to the order Peltaspermales favors the Mostly Male Theory.
Because the cytoplasm of a plant normally degrades after the death of the plant, finding cytoplasm in a plant body after a prolonged period of time, especially in fossil plants, is unexpected. Recent work on several 100-Myr-old plant fossils from Kansas, USA indicates, however, that cells and their contents can be preserved. Most of the cells in these fossil plants appear to be in a state of plasmolysis, and these fossil cells bear a strong resemblance to laboratory-baked cells of extant plant tissues. Based on a comparison with extant material plus biophysical and biochemical analyses of the cytoplasm degrading process, a new hypothesis for cytoplasm preservation in nature is proposed： high temperature, a concomitant of commonly seen wildfires, may preserve cytoplasm in fossil plants. This hypothesis implies that fossilized cytoplasm should be rather common and an appropriate substance for research, unlike previously thought. Research on fossil cytoplasm closely integrates paleobotany with biochemistry, biophysics, as well as fire ecology, and invites inputs from these fields to paleobotany to interpret these provocative findings.
