the unnamed fossil exhibits features shared by both nymphaeales and illuium (austrobaileyales) (friis et al.2001;ganbolfo et al.2004;yoo et al.2005) and occurs in a site with abundant fossil seeds attributed to illiciales (friis et al.2001)
the recent molecular analyses and dating experiments of yoo et al.(2005) raise the possibility that the unnamed fossil of friis et al. may have actually nymphaeales and austrobaileyales.
That is, the unnamed fossil probably occupies a deeper place on the angiosperm tree than the branch leading to water lilies.
Endress(2008) recently reached the same conclusion on the basis of a reexamination of the morphology of microuictoria (gandolfo et al. 2004) the fossil differs in key features from extant genera of nymphaeaceae.
This unnamed fossil of friis et al. (2001) and archaefructus certainly indicate that the aquatic habit arose early in angiosperm evolution.
This view is further supported by the near-basal placement of nymphaeales (water lilies) in phylogenies of extant taxa.
However, there are undoubtedly earlier as yet undiscovered, angiosperm fossils.
In this regard, molecular estimates for the age of the angiosperms are converging; most recent estimates are in the range of 140-180 ma (bell et al. 2005), suggesting an age for flowering plants that is substantially older than the date of 132ma on the basis of the known fossil record.
These molecular estimates suggest, in fact, that the earliest angiosperms may have arisen in the late Jurassic, rather than the early cretaceous, and that the oldest angiosperm fossils are still undiscovered.