The Fossil Record and Evolution of Charophytes from European Data

Charophytes are among the oldest non-marine plants to be represented in the fossil record due to their propensity to calcify. Their fossil fructifications allow us to describe the main steps in the evolution of charophytes and to provide important details of their age, palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography. The fossil charophyte fructifications already show a high degree of diversification in the Devonian, which decreased in the Permian and especially by the beginning of the Mesozoic. Subsequently, during the Jurassic and Cretaceous occurred a new diversification of charophytes with the radiation first of clavatoraceans and later of characeans. The latter family was dominant during the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Meanwhile, by the Neogene many extant species appeared.