This thesis has focused on the evolutionary history of Isoetes (Isoetales, Lycopsida), its phylogeny, megaspore morphology and evolutionary path through deep time. With a broadened sampling of species to include more of the worldwide diversity of the genus compared to previous work an unexpected sister to the rest of the genus was found. Isoetes wo...
Among all vertebrates, pterosaurs were the first group to evolve powered flight. This adaptation allowed them to become a diverse group, filling various habitats. Some individual pterosaurs have been interpreted as inhabiting arboreal environments, with adaptations to match. However, a broader verdict on the arboreal capabilities of pterosaurs, or ...
Palaeontological prospecting organized in the Ourika and Yagour basins (Marrakech High Atlas, Morocco) in the 1980's, have yielded abundant and exquisitely preserved tetrapod tracks, some of them preserving thinly detailed skin traces (Collection Biron, Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech, Morocco). Based on this material, diverse morphologies of tracks were des...
Published in Frontiers in Earth Science
The reconstruction of the proto-type basin and tectono-paleogeography of the Tarim Basin during the Mesozoic is crucial for hydrocarbon exploration, particularly for identifying hydrocarbon source rocks. This study reconstructs the position, thickness, and distribution of the original stratigraphy, the shortening amount by structural deformation, a...
The Jurassic vegetation of Antarctica remains poorly known and, while there have been several reports of large fossil trees from that time period across the continent, detailed anatomical studies of their wood are extremely scarce. Here we describe new silicified woods of Early Jurassic (probably Toarcian) age from Carapace Nunatak, South Victoria ...
Published in Frontiers in Earth Science
The North China Craton underwent extensive and widespread crustal reworking (or decratonization) during the Mesozoic. However, how the decratonization operated is not well understood. Zircon compositions are widely used by the scientific community to reconstruct crustal thicknesses. In this study, we sampled 13 magmatic rocks in the Jiaodong Penins...
The Late Jurassic elasmobranch Protospinax annectans is often regarded as a key species to our understanding of crown group elasmobranch interrelationships and the evolutionary history of this group. However, since its first description more than 100 years ago, its phylogenetic position within the Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) has proven controv...
Recently, a 53 million year old pteridosperm species, Komlopteris cenozoicus, was discovered at the west coast of Tasmania near Strahan, post-dating the end-Cretaceous extinction by about 13 million years. The discovery of this 'ghost lineage' prompted new excavations at its type locality, which led to the recovery of 52 new leaf specimens of K. ce...
Published in American journal of botany
The isoetalean lineage has a rich fossil record that extends to the Devonian, but the age of the living clade is unclear. Recent results indicate that it is young, from the Cenozoic, whereas earlier work based on less data from a denser taxon sampling yielded Mesozoic median ages. We analyzed node ages in Isoetes using two genomic data sets (plasto...
The diversity of praeaulacid wasps in Kachin amber is relatively poorly documented. Here, a new genus and species of praeaulacid wasp are described and illustrated from the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber as Archeogastrinus kachinensis gen. et sp. nov., and placed in the subfamily Praeaulacinae. This new genus is distinguishable from the other Praeaula...
