Eos 500d digital camera

Pictures acquisition was performed using the homemade 3D-printed photo-box and an EOS 500D digital camera (Canon, Amstelveen, The Netherlands). The camera was coupled to a Canon EF 18–55 mm f/3,5–5,6 IS lens, the lens hood (Canon EW-60C) was connected to the camera. The photographic lens was set at the focal length of 48 mm as for the light uniformity test described before, the motion stabilizer was deactivated, and the auto focus was disabled after a single, first focus adjustment. Cell culture flasks or dishes were placed in the light-box with the help of a plastic jig (Fig 2), and covered with a commercial anti-glare film (HD Anti-Glare Screen Protector Film, Power Support International, Seattle, USA), which removed reflections (of the camera lens) and glare. Pictures were taken as RGB .jpg images, using an external remote control (YP-880/E3, SHENZHEN NEEWER TECHNOLOGY Co., Shenzhen, China) connected to the camera and set with a 2-second timer delay to prevent camera shaking. Any letterings on the plastic vessels was made in green.

A seed cone, one isolated ovuliferous scale and large numbers of needles were collected from the Huangniuling Fm. of the Maoming Basin, southern China. This cone and the isolated ovuliferous scale are preserved as compressions. Cuticular fragments were obtained from the distal part of the ovuliferous scales of the compressed cone (MMJ2-1-005b). Most needles are impressions, and only a few needle fragments preserved, albeit poorly, epidermal remains. Leaf cuticular fragments were obtained from specimen MMJ3-002a. Specimens were photographed using a Canon EOS 500D digital camera. Photomicrography of the seeds was done with using a Leica S8ap0 and Image-Pro software. The terminology for morphological description of subgenus Strobus follows Klaus53 , Fu et al.5 and Earle3 .
Fossil cuticle pieces were removed from the specimens and immersed in 30% HNO₃ solution overnight, and then washed in distilled water 2 or 3 times. The samples then were treated with very weak (ca. 1–2%) ammonia for 4 hours, and then washed with distilled water. Cuticles were mounted on glass slides and observed and photographed using a Nikon microscope in transmitted light and processed with Adobe Photoshop CS5 (Adobe Inc., San Jose, California, USA). All the fossil specimens and slides are stored at the Museum of Biology of Sun Yat-sen University, in Guangzhou, China.