4亿年前的植物化石可能改变“进化史”

4亿年前的植物化石可能改变“进化史”

Researchers have discovered the fossilized 400-million-year-old remains of a new plant species in Canada that may give further insight into “evolutionary history,” according to experts.

据专家介绍，研究人员在加拿大发现了一种4亿年前的新植物化石，这可能会让人们对“进化史”有更深入的了解。

The research, published in the scientific journal Current Biology, looked at approximately 30 chips of rock that were excavated from the Campbellton Formation in New Brunswick. The extinct plant likely belonged to the group of plants known as herbaceous barinophytes and lived during a time when moss covered the ground, before eventually turning into forests.

这项发表在《当代生物学》科学期刊上的研究，观察了新不伦瑞克坎贝尔顿地层中挖掘出的大约30块岩石碎片。这种已经灭绝的植物很可能属于草本重晶石植物，生活在苔藓覆盖地面的时期，最终变成森林。

“Usually when we see heterosporous plants appear in the fossil record, they just sort of pop into existence,” said the study’s senior author, Andrew Leslie, in a statement. “We think this may be kind of a snapshot of this very rarely witnessed transition period in evolutionary history where you see high variation amongst spores in the reproductive structure.”

该研究的资深作者安德鲁·莱斯利(Andrew Leslie)在一份声明中说：“通常当我们看到化石记录中出现异孢子植物时，它们就会突然出现。”。“我们认为这可能是进化史上罕见的过渡时期的快照，在进化史上，你可以看到孢子在生殖结构上的高度变异。”

The plant produced spores that ranged in size from about 70 to 200 microns in diameter – about a strand to two strands of hair – which surprised researchers, considering the state they were found in.

这种植物产生的孢子直径从70微米到200微米不等，跟一到两根头发差不多，考虑到它们的发现状态，这令研究人员感到惊讶。

“It’s rare to get this many sporangia with well-preserved spores that you can measure,” Leslie added. “We just kind of got lucky in how they were preserved.”

莱斯利补充说：“很少有可以测量的保存完好的孢子的孢子囊。”。“我们只是幸运地发现了它们是如何被保存的。”

The discovery of the new species predates what was believed to be the oldest example of reproductive biology in plants by about 20 million years.

这种新物种的发现，比人们认为的最古老的植物繁殖生物学的例子早了大约2000万年。

“These kinds of fossils help us locate when and how exactly plants achieved that kind of partitioning of their reproductive resources,” Leslie explained. “The very end of that evolutionary history of specialization is something like a flower.”

莱斯利解释说：“这些化石有助于我们确定植物在何时、以及如何实现生殖资源的这种划分。”。“专业化进化史的尽头就像一朵花。”

Leslie said the newly discovered ancient species, which will later be described in a follow-up research paper, is unlike anything currently on planet Earth.

莱斯利说，这一新发现的古老物种与目前地球上的任何物种都不同，稍后将在后续研究论文中加以描述。

“The overarching story in land plant reproduction is one of increased division of labor and specialization and complexity, but that has to begin somewhere – and it began with simply producing small spores and big spores,” Leslie noted. “With these kinds of fossils, we can identify some ways the plants were able to do that.”

莱斯利指出：“陆地植物繁殖的首要任务是增加劳动分工、专业化和复杂性，但这必须从某个地方——从简单地产生小孢子和大孢子开始。”。“有了这些化石，我们可以确定植物是如何做到这一点的。”