Inner structure of primitive fossil flowers of early Angiosperms from Upper Cretaceous by the synchrotron radiation facility (Spring-8)

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Flowering plants (angiosperms) consisting of more than 350,000 living species dominate the vegetation of most terrestrial ecosystems. The origin and early evolution of angiosperms had remained as an abominable mystery in evolutionary biology in the last twenty-five years.The mesofossils that are usually preserved as charcoal from ancient forest fires provide unrivalled insights into the structure, biology and evolutionary relationships of ancient angiosperms. There are usually one or a few specimens available for the paleobotanical studies of mesofossils in Cretaceous, and synchrotron radiation X-ray microtomography (SRXTM) is a useful new tool for obtaining details of the internal structure without the need for destructive analysis. The SRXTM at SPring-8 is apowerful tool for obtaining a new level of detail from fossil angiosperm flowers from Cretaceous.