(paleobotany) A subkingdom of the Embryobionta including the relatively simple, uppermost Silurian-Devonian vascular plants.
Rhyniophyta
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(′rī·nē′äf·əd·ə)
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A division of the subkingdom Embryo-bionta. The bryophytes and vascular plants are included in this subkingdom. The category Rhyniophyta was devised for the relatively simple Silurian-Devonian vascular plants long held to be ancestral to other groups of vascular plants and usually referred to as Psilophytales. These plants have leafless stems and lack roots; their general morphological structure is not complex. The three classes of Rhyniophyta currently recognized are Rhyniopsida, Zosterophyllopsida, and Trimerophytopsida. See also Embryobionta; Psilophytales; Rhyniopsida; Trimerophytopsida; Zosterophyllopsida.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Rhyniophyta |
Rhyniophyta (rī'nēŏf'ətə), division of plants known only from fossils, of which the genus Rhynia was perhaps the most important. These plants date from the Silurian and Devonian age. Relatively simple in structure, they resemble the Psilotophyta in many features, such as the lack of clearly developed roots. Like modern higher plants the Rhyniophyta had the specialized conducting tissues xylem and phloem. The Rhyniophyta are the most primitive group of vascular plants so far known and appear to be ancestral to most of the major divisions of vascular plants.
| Wikipedia: Rhyniophyta |
| Rhyniophytes Fossil range: Early Devonian[1] |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Rhyniophyta † |
| Class: | Rhyniopsida † |
Rhyniophyta is a division of early vascular plants including the class Rhyniopsida. Its circumscription of included species has changed as additional information is revealed in the form of new fossils or new analysis. In particular, some specimens previously included in the group are now known to lack vascular tissue, and so cannot be included in the group if it is to be monophyletic. Currently, the group is reduced to include the genera Huvenia, Rhynia, and Stockmansella,[1] all from the Devonian. One of the most important radiations for land plants occurred in the early Devonian (Pragian), when the first rhyniophytes appear in the fossil record,[1] making this rich fossil discovery of major importance to paleobotany.
The general term "rhyniophytes" or "rhyniophytoids" is sometimes used for the assemblage of plants found in the Rhynie chert Lagerstätte - rich fossil beds in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and roughly coeval sites with similar flora. Thus, these terms refer to a floristic assemblage of more or less related early landplants, not a taxon. Though the rhyniophytes are well-represented, plants with simpler anatomy, like Aglaophyton, are also common.
The Rhynie flora are unusual for their excellent preservation of very early fossils of primitive vascular plants, in addition to plants with uncertain vascular traces, and non-vascular plants. The fossils contain sufficient cellular detail to tell which plants are the sporophyte generation due to the presence of sporangia. In addition, because the plants were buried in-situ, rather than transported before burial, important distinguishing features, such as reproductive structures, are found attached to their parent plants. The site appears to include sporophytes and gametophytes of the same species and other organisms, such as arthropods, that lived in the Rhynie ecosystem. All of this gives an insight into the sort of ecosystems in which early plants evolved.
References
- ^ a b c Kenrick, Paul; Peter R. Crane (1997). The Origin and Early Diversification of Land Plants : A Cladistic Study. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 139–140, 249. ISBN 1-56098-730-8.
- ^ Qiu, Yin-Long; Libo Lia, Bin Wanga, Zhiduan Chend, Volker Knoope, Milena Groth-Maloneke, Olena Dombrovskaa, Jungho Leeb, Livija Kentb, Joshua Restf, George F. Estabrooka, Tory A. Hendrya, David W. Taylora, Christopher M. Testab, Mathew Ambrosb, Barbara Crandall-Stotlerg, R. Joel Duffh, Michael Stechi, Wolfgang Freyi, Dietmar Quandtj, and Charles C. Davisk (October 2006). "The deepest divergences in land plants inferred from phylogenomic evidence". PNAS 103 (42): 15511-15516. http://www.pnas.org/content/103/42/15511.abstract?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Yin-Long+Qiu+&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
See also
External links
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 | Rhyniopsida (paleobotany) |
| Psilophytales |
| Psilotophyta (psilotophyta) |
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Mentioned in
- Rhyniopsida (paleobotany)
- Psilophytales
- Psilotophyta (psilotophyta)
- Embryobionta (embryobionta)
- Bryophyta (plant – in botany)
- plant (in botany)
- Plant kingdom
- Plant evolution
- Polysporangiophyte
- Horneophytopsida
- Streptophytina
- Pteridophyte
- Vascular plant
- Cooksonia
