Ginkgo, or the maidenhair tree, is considered a living fossil, as it was found to have existed early in the Jurassic period about 170 million years ago. However, a more than 100 million-year gap in the fossil record since the Jurassic period has hindered a full understanding of its evolution. Recently Zhou Zhiyan, a CAS member with the CAS Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, and Zheng Shaolin, a researcher from Shenyang Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources under the Ministry of Land and Resources, found the much-sought missing link between the ancient and modern plants from the 121-million-year-old stratum of the Yixian formation in northeast China.
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