Newly-discovered fossilised pollen grains found in Swizerland have set the evolution of flowers to 100 million years earlier than they are previously thought to have existed.
At 240 million years-old, they are the oldest known fossils of the direct ancestors of flowering plants. The pollen grains are small, robust and numerous, which means they fossilise easier than leaves and flowers.
It is previously believed through fossilised pollen from flowers that they began existing in the Early Cretaceous period - approximately 140 million years ago. But this new research is suggesting that they may have originated in the Early Triassic.
Read more at University of Zurich