Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Palaeobotany

Swimming sperm in an extinct Gondwanan plant

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

The now-extinct plant Glossopteris that dominated the Southern Hemisphere (Gondwana) during the Permian period serves as early evidence of continental drift1,2, and may be ancestral to the group of seed plants known as angiosperms3. Here we describe a 250-million-year-old fossil from Homevale in Queensland, Australia, of anatomically preserved pollen tubes and swimming male gametes from Glossopteris. The discovery of this simple reproductive system in Glossopteris has implications for its phylogenetic relationships with extant groups of seed plants (conifers and flowering plants, for example) and for the evolution of pollination biology in general.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: Fossil motile sperm in a Late Permian Glossopteris ovule.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gould, R. E. & Delevoryas, T. Alcheringa 1, 387–399 (1977).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Pigg, K. B. & McLoughlin, S. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 97, 339–359 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Retallack, G. & Dilcher, D. L. Paleobiology 7, 54–67 (1988).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Li, Y. et al. Protoplasma 149, 57–63 (1989).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Norstog, K. J. Bot. Gaz. 147, 40–46 (1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bierhorst, D. W. Morphology of Vascular Plants (Macmillan, New York, 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Gifford, E. M. & Foster, A. S. Morphology and Evolution of Vascular Plants 3rd edn (Freeman, New York, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hirase, S. Bot. Mag. Tokyo 10, 325–328 (1896).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Ikeno, S. Bot. Mag. Tokyo 10, 367–368 (1896).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Chamberlain, C. J. Gymnosperms (Univ. Chicago Press, 1935).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  11. Cass, D. & Jensen, W. A. Am. J. Bot. 57, 2–70 (1970).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Stewart, W. N. Am. Midl. Natur. 46, 717–742 (1951).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Rothwell, G. W. & Stockey, R. A. Botany 2001 Abstracts 25 (2001).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 112-8551, Japan

    Harufumi Nishida

  2. Department of Plant Biology, Box 871601

    Kathleen B. Pigg

  3. Arizona State University, Tempe, 85287-1601, Arizona, USA

    Kathleen B. Pigg

  4. School of Natural Resource Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Box 2434, Brisbane, 4001, Queensland, Australia

    John F. Rigby

Authors
  1. Harufumi Nishida
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kathleen B. Pigg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. John F. Rigby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Harufumi Nishida.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nishida, H., Pigg, K. & Rigby, J. Swimming sperm in an extinct Gondwanan plant. Nature 422, 396–397 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/422396a

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/422396a

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation