Hermsen Lab

Opening paragraph of the post on virtual collections. I have co-authored a new blog post on virtual collections for the iDigBio Research Spotlight series. You can read it here:  https://www.idigbio.org/content/research-spotlight-november-2019

Florissantia calyx & Langeria leaf, Eocene, U.S.A. (Photos by Kevmin, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA; images modified.) I have posted a new angiosperm page on Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life: Overview of Angiosperm Phylogeny. Learn about the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification system (APG IV), the eight major groups of angiosperms, and the differences between monocots and eudicots. The page includes many figures, including fossils from the major angiosperm groups! https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/embryophytes/angiosperms/angiosperm-phylogeny/

The Parthenon (Credit: Tim Bekaert, via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain. Imaged cropped.) A new page on Greek & Latin in botanical terminology has been added to the Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life. The page has two sections. The first describes how to make plurals of scientific terms that have Greek and Latin endings. The second deals with botanical terminology. Specifically, it describes how learning some prefixes, suffixes, and combining forms commonly used in botanical terms can be helpful in remembering and figuring out the terms and their definitions. Many of these combining forms originate from Greek, less frequently from Latin. This page is based on handouts that I originally created when teaching undergraduate structural botany in order to help students master the extensive vocabulary. Read the page here:  https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/embryophytes/botanical-terminology/

Fruit capsules from modern angiosperms (from DEAL) A new page has been added to the Digital Atlas of Ancient Life: Fruits! Learn about the different types of fruits and their corresponding floral structures. Find the page here:  https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/embryophytes/angiosperms/fruits/

Cultivated passionflower, L.H. Bailey Conservatory (Cornell University) I attended the Geological Society of America Meeting (GSA 2019) in Phoenix, Arizona, from September 21st to September 25th. Highlights included the Paleontological Society Short Course on Quantitative Methods in Phylogenetic Paleobiology, which I attended in order to brush up on my phylogenetics skills ( thanks to the organizers for a fantastic workshop); an open house hosted by Friends of Paleobotany at the Arizona State University Biocollections (again, thanks to the organizers!); and the Paleobotany and Terrestrial Ecosystems discipline section on Wednesday morning, during which I gave my presentation. My presentation this year was entitled " Passionflower-like seeds ( Passifloroidesperma ) from the Pliocene Gray Fossil Site of eastern North America and their biogeographic implications." (The abstract is here .) I hope to follow it up with a publication soon.

Diagram showing a cell engulfing the a cyanobacterium, the ancestor of the chloroplast. I have posted a two new land plant pages to the Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life! One of the pages describes the flowering plant life cycle and the evolution of the embryo sac (female gametophyte or megagametophyte) in angiosperms. The other discusses the origin of land plants, including theory and fossil evidence. To read more, follow these links: Angiosperm life cycle Origin of land plants

Azolla , cultivated, greenhouse I am pleased to announce to publication of a new paper on fossil Azolla , now available online early at International Journal of Plant Sciences (free access). The full citation is:  Hermsen, E.J.,  N.A. Jud, F. De Benedetti, and M.A. Gandolfo. 2019.  Azolla  sporophytes and spores from the Late Cretaceous and Paleocene of Patagonia, Argentina . International Journal of Plant Sciences . https://doi.org/10.1086/704377 Update (August 21, 2019): This final version of this paper with page numbers is now online as part of the Rothwell Celebration in the September 2019 issue of International Journal of Plant Sciences.

Mountains in Funiushan Global Geopark, Nanyang, Henan, China On July 8-9, I attended a symposium on relict trees in at Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden in Shanghai, China. Participants from around the world presented their research on the ecology, conservation, systematics, paleontology, and biogeography of relict trees. Afterwards, we went on a filed trip to Nanyang, Henan Province, to see relict trees and native forests in Baotianman and Funiushan Global Geopark. My presentation was "Engelhardioid fruits from the Eocene of Patagonia and the paleobiogeography of Engelhardioideae." The abstract book is available on ResearchGate ( here ). More images are available at the Project Zelkova website .

Marsilea mutica  (L.H. Bailey Conservatory, Cornell University) I am pleased to announce the publication of my paper on the fossil record of Marsilea (water-clover), including the description of the new species Marsilea sprungerorum  from the Eocene Green River Formation of Colorado and Utah! The paper is open-access. Hermsen, E.J. 2019. Revisions to the fossil sporophyte record of  Marsilea .  Acta Palaeobotanica  59: 27–50.  https://doi.org/10.2478/acpa-2019-0005

Diagram of a flower (E.J. Hermsen/DEAL) Did you ever wonder about the structure of a flower and how flowers achieve so many different forms? Well, wonder no more! A new Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life page on flowers is now posted! See it here:  https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/embryophytes/angiosperms/flowers/

Birthday cake celebrating Mary Anning From May 13th to May 17th, I had the privilege of visiting the collections of Gray Fossil Site again in order to pick through unsorted fruits and seeds. I gave a talk on the Gray Fossil Site carpofossil flora on May 15th, I sorted a lot of material, and I had some cake!

Diagram showing the life cycle of a homosporous land plant A land plant must pass through two phases, or generations, to complete its life cycle: a haploid gametophyte phase and a diploid sporophyte phase. My new page on the Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life website explains the life cycle of land plants, homospory and heterospory, and the seed habit! See it here:  https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/embryophytes/life_cycle/

Bee on echinacea flower head. The first land plant page of the Digital Atlas of Ancient Life has now been posted! The page deals with angiosperm pollination and gives a brief overview of what we can glean from the fossil record. Visit the page here:  https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/embryophytes/angiosperms/angiosperm_pollination/