AUTHOR=Wong William Oki , Dilcher David Leonard , Labandeira Conrad C. , Sun Ge , Fleischmann Andreas 

TITLE=Early Cretaceous Archaeamphora is not a carnivorous angiosperm

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2015.00326

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2015.00326

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Archaeamphora longicervia</italic> H. Q. Li was described as an herbaceous, Sarraceniaceae-like pitcher plant from the mid Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning Province, northeastern China. Here, a re-investigation of <italic>A. longicervia</italic> specimens from the Yixian Formation provides new insights into its identity and the morphology of pitcher plants claimed by Li. We demonstrate that putative pitchers of <italic>Archaeamphora</italic> are insect-induced leaf galls that consist of three components: (1) an innermost larval chamber; (2) an intermediate zone of nutritive tissue; and (3) an outermost wall of sclerenchyma. <italic>Archaeamphora</italic> is not a carnivorous, Sarraceniaceae-like angiosperm, but represents insect-galled leaves of the previously reported gymnosperm <italic>Liaoningocladus boii</italic> G. Sun et al. from the Yixian Formation.</p>