Amborella: The First Genus of Flowers 130 Million Years ago

Amborella is a genus of rare understory shrubs or small trees endemic to the island of New Caledonia.

The genus consists of only a single species, Amborella trichopoda, and is the only member of the family Amborellaceae.

Wood of Amborella lacks the vessels characteristic of most flowering plants.

It is of great interest to plant systematists because molecular phylogenetic analyses consistently place it at or near the base of the flowering plant lineage.

That is, it represents a line of flowering plants that diverged very early on (about 130 million years ago) from all the other extant species of flowering plants.

Comparing characteristics of this basal angiosperm, other flowering plants and fossils may provide clues about how flowers first appeared—what Darwin called the "abominable mystery".

Transitional Primate Fossil: NOT Missing Link!

This is Ida, a spectacularly preserved 47-million-year-old primate fossil from the Messel Pit in Germany. She is NOT the missing Link.

It is a transitional fossil, belonging to a new genus and species of primates: Darwinius masillae.

It has some features of the Strepsirrhini, popularly known as "wet nose" primates - the primate suborder that contains lemurs, but which does not belong to the human lineage.

However, the authors say that other features suggest it lies within the other primate group: the Haplorrhini, "dry nose primates", which contains tarsiers, monkeys, apes and humans.