Hao Shougang and Xue Jinzhuang’s《The Early Devonian Posongchong Flora of Yunnan--A Contribution to an Understanding of the Evolution and Early Diversification of Vascular Plants(精)》 is a monographic summary ofcurrent knowledge of the Early Devonian Posongchong flora from Yunnan，southwestern China，which is emergingas one of the most important sources of information on early vascular plants The many species recovered from the Posongchong Formation，including some endemic plants with tmusual combinations offertile and vegetative organs，are described in detail……

《The Early Devonian Posongchong Flora of Yunnan--A Contribution to an Understanding of the Evolution and Early Diversification of Vascular Plants(精)》的作者是Hao Shougang and Xue Jinzhuang.

《The Early Devonian Posongchong Flora of Yunnan--A Contribution to an Understanding of the Evolution and Early Diversification of Vascular Plants(精)》is a monographic summary ofcurrent knowledge oftheEarly Devonian Posongchong flora from Yunnan，southwestern China，whichis emerging as one ofthemostimportant sources ofinformationon early vascular plants The many species recovered from thePosongchong Formation，including some endemic plants with tmusualcombinations offertile and vegetative organs，are described in detail，and allupdated classification systemispresented Thepaleoenvironmentsin which plants lived have been reconstructed by a study ofsedimentological facies and taphonomy。The Posongchong flora iscompared to other coeval floras from throughout the world。Thephylogenetic relationships of the Posongchong plants have been assessed by cladistic analyses，including the parsimonymethod and Bayesian inference The evolution and early diversification ofearly vascular plants have then been discussedln terms ofanalyses ofmorphological and anatomieal characters as well as diversity dynamics The evidence from thePosongchong flora supports the hypothesis that the explosion ofmajor lineages ofvascular plants occurred during theEarly Devonian(Pragian)age As suggested by Charles B Beck in the foreword，“it is clear that this flora provides anunusuallyimportant contributionto our knowledge of plantlifein the Devonian，and awealth ofinformationforbiologistsand geologists who seek to understand the myriad pathways ofplant evolution”。

Foreword

1．Introduction

2．Localities and Research History of Early Vascular Plants in Yunnan Province

2．1 Localities  

2．2 Previous studies and main achievements 

2．2．1 TheXujiachongflorain Qujing

2．2．2 The Posongchong flora in Wenshan

3．Stratigraphy and Sedimentary Environments

3．1 Geological setting

3．1．1 Geological setting ofYunnan Province  

3．1．2 LowerDevonian strataintheWenshan area  

3．l．3 LowerDevonianPosongchongFormation

3．1．4 Geological age of the Posongchong Formation   

3．2 Posongchong FormNion at the Zhichang section  

3．2．1 Description ofthePosongchongFormation  

3．2．2 Simplified description of the Posongchong Formation at the Zhichang section

3．3 Deposition．plant taphonomy．and the Early Devonian terrestrial environment

3．3．1 Sedimentary environment and fossil preservation within eighth layer of Posongchong Formation at the Zhichang section

3．3．2 Sedimentary environment and fossil preservation within sixth layer of Posongchong Formation at the Changputang section 

3．3．3 Discussion        

3．3．4 Concluding remarks 

4．Systematic Description

4．1 Classification of early vascular plants from the Posongchong flora 

4．1．1 Class Horneophytopsida and Catenalis Class 1 Incertae sedis

4．1．2 Class Rhyniopsida．rhynialeans．cooksonioids and renalioids

4．1．3 Classzoste r()phyllopsida  

4．1．4 Class Lycopsida   

4．1．5 Class BarinOphytopsida    

4．1．6 Adoketophyton．Class 2Incertae sedis   

4．1．7 Stachyton Class 3 Incertae sedis    

4．1．8 Class E0phyllophytopsida class nov    

4．1．9 Class Pteropsida (Filicopsida．Ferns)     

4．1．10 Class Sphenopsida  

4．1．11 Class Progymnospennopsida  

4．1．12 ClassPteridospermopsida   

4．2 Description ofthe Posongchong plants

4．2．1 Genus Catenalis Hao et Beck1991a   

4．2．2 Genus Demersatheca Li C S et Edwards1996 

4．2．3 GenusHuiaGeng1985  

4．2．4 Genus Gumuia Hao1989b 

4．2．5 Genus Hicklingia Kidston et Lang1923 

4．2．6 Genus Ramoferis Hao et Xue2011    

4．2．7 Genus Zosterophyllum Penhallow1892   

4．2．8 GenusWenshaniaZhu etKenrick1999

4．2．9 Genus Distichophyturn Magdefrau1938    

4．2．10 Genus Oricilla Gensel1982b  

4．2．11 Genus Discalis Hao1989a．

4．2．12 Genus Guangnania Wang et Hao2002  

4．2．13 Genus Yunia Hao et Beck1991b   

4．2．14 Genus Baragwanathia Lang et Cookson1935 

4．2．15 Genus Halleophyton Li et Edwards1997

4．2．16 Genus Hueberia YangLi et Edwards2009 

4．2．17 GenusZhengliaHaoWangD．MWangQ．etXue2006

4．2．18 Genus Dibracophyton HaoXueZhu et Wang2012

4．2．19 GenusAdoketophytonLi etEdwards1992  

4．2．20 Genus Stachyophyton Geng1 983    

4．2．21 Genus Eophylophyton Hao1988emend．Hao et Beck1993

4．2．22 Genus Pauthecophyton XueHaoZhu et Wang2012  

4．2．23 GenusPsilophytonDawson1859emend BanksLeclercq etHueber．1975

4．2．24 Genus Esfinnophyton Fairon—Demaret1978 

4．2．25 Genus Cervicornus Li et Hueber2000  

4．2．26 Genus Hedeia Cookson1935   

4．2．27 Genus Polythecophyton HaoGensel et Wang2001   

4．2．28 Genus Celatheca Hao et Gensel1995     

5Composition of the Posongchong Flora and Comparison of the Posongchong Flora with Other Coeval Floras

5．1 Composition and characteristics of the Posongchong flora 

5．2 Phytogeographic divisions during the latest Silurian to EarlV DevOnJan Deriod

5．2．1 Historical retrospect  

5．2．2 Recent advances   

5．3 Comparison ofthePosongchongflorawith othercoeval(and roughly coev rdl)floras

5．3．1Coeval floras in the northeastern Gondwanan phytogeographic unit

5．3．2 Coeval floms in the Laumssian phytogeographic unit(North America and westernEurope)     

5．4 Preliminary summary of Early Devonian floristic characteristics 

5．4．1 Early Devonian floristic characteristics of the northeastern GOndwanan phytogeographic unit  

5．4．2 Early Devonian floristic characteristics of the Laumssian Dhytogeographic unit(North America and western Europe)．    

6 ACladisticAnalysis ofPhylogeny ofthePosongchongPlants

6．1 Choice oftaxa．  

6．1．1 Choice ofoutgroup 

6．1．2 Choice ofingroup   

6．2 Character description．discussion and coding    

6．2．1 Characters used in the analysis 

6．2．2 Other potential characters   

6．3 Analysis of the data matrix  

6．3．1 Discussion based onAnalysisI andAnalysisII  

6．3．2 Discussion based onAnalysis lII 

6．3．3 Clade stability    

6．4 Phylogenetic relationships of early vascular plants based on cladistic analysis with addition ofthePosongchong plants  

7 EvolutionandDiversificationofEarlyVascularPlantsEvidencefromthePosongchong Flora

7．1 Implications ofEarly Devonian Posongchong plants

7．1．1 Catenaliswith a transitional morphology between algae and land plants．

7．1．2 Diversification ofzosterophyilopsids 

7．1．3 The Posongchong lycopsids (microphyllous plants)

7．1．4 The Posongchong euphyllophytes (megaphyllous plants)  

7．1．5 Beyond microphylls and megaphylls other novel plants with strobili and unusual leafy structures

7．2．Early evolution of organs and tissue structure of vascular plants

7．2．1 Earliest records of roots 

7．2．2 Earliest records ofleaves(or leafy structuresl and their initial diversification

7．2．3 Diversity of fertile structures and their evolutionary significance 

7．2．4 Diversity of xylem stands and evolutionary trends in tracheid construction

7．3．Diversity dynamics ofthe late Silurian Early Devonian megafossil plants

7．3．1 Sources ofdata andmethOd ofanalysis 

7．3．2 Diversity dynamics    

7．3．3 Compari~n ofthe present results to previous patterns based on Laumssian data

7．3．4 Interpreting the pattern：geological and environmental factors 

7．4 Early Devonian(Pragian)explosion(burst)of vascular plant lineages

7．4．1 Phases ofmorphological diversmcatlOn    

7．4．2 The earliest terrestrial plants and floras prior to and during the Pragian

7．4．3 The first evolutionary phasediversification of sporangial morphology

7．4．4．The second evolutionary phase phenotypic character diversity  

7．4．5 Early Devonian(Pragian)explosion(burst)of vascular plant lineages

7．4．6 Early Devonian (Pragian)explosion of vascular plants as compared to Cambrian explosion ofanimals 

Appendix

References

Taxonomic Index

Subject Index