The South American and Antarctic Peninsula fossil record of Salviniales (water ferns): Its implication for understanding their evolution and past distribution

Abstract

We compiled the fossil record of the heterosporous water ferns (Salviniales) including macro- and microfossils from South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. Both extant families, Marsileaceae and Salviniaceae, are well represented and several fossil spore genera that cannot be placed within the extant families are included as Incertae sedis. Marsileaceae is first recorded in the Middle to Late Jurassic. Incertae sedis genera are recorded for first time in the Early Cretaceous while Salviniaceae in the Late Cretaceous. Two diversity spikes are recognized: one spanned the Aptian–Albian (Early Cretaceous) and is linked to an increase in species diversity within Marsileaceae; and the other occurred during the Campanian–Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) and it is associated with the diversification at generic level of the entire Salviniales. Two decreases in diversity are recognized: one during the Cenomanian–Santonian and affected Marsileaceae at specific level but not its generic diversity, and the second is related to the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction and affected all Salviniales at generic and specific levels. From the Paleocene onwards there is a steady decline in the fossil record of the group, with most remains belonging to the extant genera. This study suggests that Southern Hemisphere aquatic ferns underwent a sharp radiation during the Late Cretaceous and a deep decline in the Paleocene that parallels that occurred in the Northern Hemisphere. Probably, the temporal co-occurrence of geological and climate events and the availability of suitable lineages promoted the evolutionary changes of the water ferns in the studied area, including the high diversification and distribution in the Cretaceous and the subsequent post-Maastrichtian decline.