Some more data.
From "The Origin and Diversification of Land Plants" Kenrick and Crane
(paleobotanists) 1998. They list the ealiest record of members of the
"spermophyta" which are seedplants as upper devonian (360-380mya), good
memory David! Bryophyte spores are found back into the Silurian (400mya+).
Joel
>Conifers do not appear until the Carboniferous which is about 300 myr ago.
Simply repeating the false claim, this time from your book, does nothing to
make the claim true. Cite a single paleontology article in which conifers
are found in the upper Ordovician (which is older than the Silurian) which
is where fish are first found.<
Some further data, without much conclusion:
I believe the current records for oldest known seeds and evidence for woody
plants are latest Devonian. Land plants extend into the Silurian, with
possibly terrestrial material (mostly spores) into the Ordovician. Dr.
Patricial Gensel at UNC-Chapel Hill would be a good person to contact about
current knowledge on early plants, if anyone is interested, and would
certainly be quicker than my finding my notes from her class a few years
ago. Algae, on the other hand, extend well into the Precambrian, and
photosynthetic bacteria even earlier. It seems a bit of a stretch to assume
that Genesis 1 is referring to cyanobacteria, however.
The oldest material of jawless fish scales dates to the late Cambrian
(Astrapis), but some of the early Cambrian Chenjiang organisms have been
identified as fishlike chordates. Conodonts, probably the ancestors of true
fishes, range back to the earliest Cambrian or latest Precambrian. Jawed
fishes go back at least to the Silurian. However, the generality of
taxonomic concepts in Hebrew, especially for unclean aquatic animals, would
suggest that shellfish may also be included in the category of fish. This
would probably include the late Precambrian Ediacaran fauna, if an ancient
Hebrew had had any reason to refer to it.
Dr. David Campbell
Old Seashells
46860 Hilton Dr #1113
Lexington Park MD 20653 USA
bivalve@mail.davidson.alumlink.com
That is Uncle Joe, taken in the masonic regalia of a Grand Exalted
Periwinkle of the Mystic Order of Whelks-P.G. Wodehouse, Romance at Droigate
Spa
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