Was Charles Darwin right in his explanation of the ‘abominable mystery’?

By

Sgorbati, Sergio
D'Antraccoli, Marco
Citterio, Sandra
Gentili, Rodolfo
Peruzzi, Lorenzo

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2018-3-13

Original Publication

Italian botanist

Volume

5

Pages

25--30

Subjects

abominable mystery , angiosperm origin , Darwin , palaeogeography , Zealandia

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft 2016-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.5.24699

 

Abstract

The site and time of origin of angiosperms are still debated. The co-occurrence of many of the early branching lineages of flowering plants in a region somewhere between Australia and the SW Pacific islands suggests a possible Gondwanan origin of angiosperms. The recent recognition of Zealandia, a 94% submerged continent in the east of Australia, could explain the discrepancy between molecular clocks and fossil records about the age of angiosperms, supporting the old Darwinian hypothesis of a “lost continent” to explain the “abominable mystery” regarding the origin and rapid radiation of flowering plants.