Diversity dynamics of Zosterophyllopsida

The Zosterophyllopsida were major contributors to the diversification of early land plants. We present the first detailed analysis of the diversity dynamics of these plants from an updated database of all currently recognized zosterophyllopsid species. A set of quantitative methods classically used in palaeodiversity studies was applied to two data sets. The first one, ‘Zosterophyllopsida sensu stricto’, corresponds to the clade identified by Hao & Xue (The Early Devonian Posongchong Flora of Yunnan. (2013), Science Press). In the second, called ‘Zosterophyllopsida sensu lato’, barinophytalean-type plants and taxa for which zosterophyllopsid affinities are suspected are added. The number of localities is used to explore sampling bias. Results show that sampling effect is minimal for the Early Devonian. For this time interval, both data sets record consistent patterns of changes suggesting that, whatever their affinities, all taxa included in the Zosterophyllopsida sensu lato show similar evolutionary trends. The diversity dynamics of zosterophyllopsids are characterized by a radiation during the Lochkovian, maximal values in the Pragian and a decline starting in the Emsian. The proportion of zosterophyllalean taxa with terminal sporangia is high until the Late Lochkovian when gosslingialean taxa without terminal sporangia evolved. During the Middle and Late Devonian, when diversity patterns are strongly affected by sampling, zosterophyllopsid diversity is low and characterized by a high proportion of barinophytacean and gosslingialean taxa, the latter becoming extinct in the Early Frasnian.