What is Aglaophyton?
{{Italic title}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{Geological range/linked|Early Devonian}} | image = Aglaophyton major reconstruccion en.jpg | image_caption = Reconstruction of the sporophyte of ''Aglaophyton'', illustrating bifurcating axes with terminal sporangia, and rhizoids. Insets show a cross-section of a sporangium and the probable spores. | taxon = Aglaophyton | authority = D.S.Edwards 1986 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * †''A. major'' <small>(Kidston & Lang 1920) Edwards 1986</small> | synonyms = * ''Lyonophyton'' <small>Remy & Remy 1980</small> }} '''''Aglaophyton''''' is a [[genus]] of [[Devonian|early Devonian]] [[fossil]] [[land plant]]s. Its fossils have been found in the [[Rhynie chert]]. Only the [[sporophyte]] generation have been found as fossils. Only one species has been found, ''Aglaophyton major''. ==Relationship to other plants== ''Aglaophyton'' was at first thought to be a species of the [[vascular plant]] genus ''[[Rhynia]]'' which lived at the same time. Later it was discovered that it is not really a vascular plant. It had [[vascular tissue]], but the [[cell]]s had thin walls. It might therefore be a [[missing link]] between the [[Bryophyte]]s and ''[[Horneophyton]]'' and the vascular plants like ''Rhynia''. In 2004, Crane et al. published a [[cladogram]] which has ''Aglaophyton'' as the [[sister group]] of the vascular plants.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Crane |first1=P.R. |last2=Herendeen |first2=P. |last3=Friis |first3=E.M. |year=2004 |title=Fossils and plant phylogeny |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=91 |issue=10 |pages=1683–99 |url=http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/91/10/1683 |accessdate=2011-01-27 |doi=10.3732/ajb.91.10.1683 |name-list-style=amp |pmid=21652317 |archive-date=2010-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100718090342/http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/91/10/1683 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} ==Other websites== * [http://www.amjbot.org/content/vol91/issue10/images/large/abot-91-10-04-f01.jpeg C