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Corystospermales
Corystosperms are a group of extinct seed plants (often referred to as "seed ferns") belonging to the family Corystospermaceae (also called Umkomasiaceae) assigned to the order Corystospermales or Umkomasiales. They were first described based on fossils collected by Hamshaw Thomas from the Burnera Waterfall locality near the Umkomaas River of South Africa. Corystosperms are typified by a group of plants that bore forked '' Dicroidium'' leaves, '' Umkomasia'' cupulate ovulate structures and '' Pteruchus'' pollen organs, which grew as trees that were widespread over Gondwana during the Middle and Late Triassic. Other fossil Mesozoic seed plants with similar leaf and/or reproductive structures have also sometimes been included within the "corystosperm" concept ''sensu lato'', such as the "doyleoids" from the Early Cretaceous of North America and Asia. A potential corystosperm ''sensu lato'', the leaf genus ''Komlopteris'', is known from the Eocene of Tasmania, around 53-50 million yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seed Ferns
Pteridospermatophyta, also called pteridosperms or seed ferns, are a polyphyletic grouping of extinct Spermatophyte, seed-producing plants. The earliest fossil evidence for plants of this type are the Lyginopteridales, lyginopterids of late Devonian age. They flourished particularly during the Carboniferous and Permian periods. Pteridosperms declined during the Mesozoic Era and had mostly disappeared by the end of the Cretaceous Period, though ''Komlopteris'' seem to have survived into Eocene times, based on fossil finds in Tasmania. With regard to the enduring utility of this division (botany), division, many palaeobotanists still use the pteridosperm grouping in an informal sense to refer to the seed plants that are not angiosperms, coniferoids (conifers or cordaites), Ginkgoaceae, ginkgophytes (ginkgos or czekanowskiales), cycadophytes (cycads or Bennettitales, bennettites), or gnetophytes. This is particularly useful for extinct seed plant groups whose systematic relationship ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dicroidium
''Dicroidium'' is an extinct genus of fork-leaved seed plants. It is the archetypal genus of the corystosperms, an extinct group of seed plants, often called " seed ferns", assigned to the order Corystospermales or Umkomasiales. Species of ''Dicroidium,'' which grew as large trees, were widely distributed and dominant over Gondwana during the Triassic (). Their fossils are known from South Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Madagascar, the Indian subcontinent and Antarctica. Description Within the form genus classification system used in paleobotany, the genus ''Dicroidium'' refers specifically to the leaves. Some authors have suggested dividing ''Dicroidium'' up into several genera, including ''Dicroidiopsis, Diplasiophyllum, Zuberia'', ''Xylopteris'', ''Johnstonia'' and ''Tetraptilon,'' but this is rejected by other authors. The leaves of ''Dicroidium'' bifurcate (fork) at their base, which is characteristic of all species. The leaves are h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triassic
The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized š) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period of the Mesozoic Era and the seventh period of the Phanerozoic Eon. Both the start and end of the period are marked by major extinction events. The Triassic Period is subdivided into three epochs: Early Triassic, Middle Triassic and Late Triassic. The Triassic began in the wake of the PermianāTriassic extinction event, which left the Earth's biosphere impoverished; it was well into the middle of the Triassic before life recovered its former diversity. Three categories of organisms can be distinguished in the Triassic record: survivors from the extinction event, new groups that flourished briefly, and other new groups that went on to dominate the Mesozoic Era. Reptiles, especially archosaurs, were the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pachypteris
''Pachypteris'' is a Mesozoic pteridosperm ("seed fern") genus of fossil leaves. It has either been aligned with the peltasperms or the corystosperms. Description ''Pachypteris'' is represented by hypostomatic, bipinnate or unipinnate leaves, with alethopteridian venation (midvein and secondary veins divided once or twice before reaching the pinnule margin), pinnules with entire margins and rounded apices. The stomata are haplocheilic, monocyclic or dicyclic, usually depressed, with the guard cells occurring in the lowermost part of the stoma. Taxonomy The affinities of ''Pachypteris'' lay with '' Cycadopteris'', ''Komlopteris'', ''Dicroidium'' (a typical Corystospermalean foliage) and '' Ptilozamites''. It includes the former denomination ''Thinnfeldia'' Ettingshausen 1852, a junior synonym of ''Pachypteris'', as Doludenko (1971) showed. The genus was detailed by Harris (1964), Doludenko (1974), Schweitzer and Kirchner (1998), Popa (2000), and Gordenko (2007). The genus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
