Forest complex angiosperm

The appearance of pleurocarpy was dated at 194-161 mya, significantly earlier than the radiation of the majority of pleurocarp lineages about 165-131 mya. This radiation coincides with the diversification of the angiosperms in the Early Cretaceous, but predates appearance of complex angiosperm forests in the early Cenozoic. The hypothesis that pleurocarpous mosses evolved to exploit the angiosperm forests is modified — pleurocarpous mosses diversified in the same time frame as the early angiosperms and the recovered pattern suggests a putative correlation of these diversification events. 

It must also be noted that, if the fossil record accurately reflects the diversity of terrestrial ecosystems, the dense, complex angiosperm forests that we currently know, with their rich diversity of habitats, would have appeared relatively late in the process of diversification of angiosperm lineages (Behrensmeyer, 1992) further emphasizing the uncoupling of pleurocarpous moss diversification from... 

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