Archaeamphora longicervia
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Archaeamphora Temporal range: Early Cretaceous |
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| Artist's reconstruction of Archaeamphora longicervia after Li (2005) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | ?Eudicots |
| (unranked): | ?Asterids |
| Order: | ?Ericales |
| Family: | ?Sarraceniaceae |
| Genus: | Archaeamphora |
| Species: | A. longicervia |
| Binomial name | |
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Archaeamphora longicervia Li (2005) |
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Archaeamphora longicervia is an extinct species of flowering plants and the only member of the genus Archaeamphora. Fossil material assigned to this taxon originates from the Yixian Formation of northeastern China, dated to the Early Cretaceous (around 145 to 101 million years ago).
The species was originally described as a pitcher plant with close affinities to extant members of the family Sarraceniaceae. This would make it the earliest known carnivorous plant and the only known fossil record of pitcher plants (with the possible exception of some palynomorphs of uncertain nepenthacean affinity).Archaeamphora is also one of the three oldest known genera of angiosperms (flowering plants). Li (2005) wrote that "the existence of a so highly derived Angiosperm in the Early Cretaceous suggests that Angiosperms should have originated much earlier, maybe back to 280 mya as the molecular clock studies suggested".
Subsequent authors have questioned the identification of Archaeamphora as a pitcher plant.
The generic name Archaeamphora is derived from the Greek , archaíos ("ancient"; combining form in Latin: archae-), and , amphoreus ("pitcher"). The specific epithet longicervia is derived from the Latin longus ("long") and cervicarius ("with a neck"), in reference to the characteristic constriction in the pitcher-like structures of this species.
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