Plants Were Hardier than Expected

Plants Were Hardier than Expected

Many plants are known for their extreme resilience and longevity. New fossil findings suggest that a greater number of species may have survived the mass extinction known as the great dying, challenging earlier studies.   

The new research suggests that many plant species had survived into a later period, within the Permian- Triassic boundary. New fossils have been excavated. Two extinct species were examined in focus, namely, Bennettitales and Corystospermales.

Bennettitales plants are of note as being one of the first flowering plants on earth, which provides progress in the evolutionary research of plants.

These new fossils, once unavailable to scientists, could represent the missing link between modern plant variants with their ancestors.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/more-plants-survived-world-greatest-mass-extinction?tgt=nr