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STUDIES OF PALEOZOIC MARATTIALEANS: AN EARLY PENNSYLVANIAN SPECIES OF THE FERTILE FERN SCOLECOPTERIS
Author(s) -
MILLAY M. A.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1982.tb13312.x
Subject(s) - pennsylvanian , sporangium , fern , biology , pedicel , paleozoic , botany , paleontology , frond , petiole (insect anatomy) , spore , genus , structural basin
Remains of the fossil Marattiales are very rare in Lower Pennsylvanian sediments. The present report describes a new species of the fertile fern foliage Scolecopteris from the Lewis Creek, Kentucky locality (Lower or lower Middle Pennsylvanian). Scolecopteris conicaulis n. sp. has radial synangia composed of a ring of 4–7 elongate, exannulate sporangia. Most features of the synangia of S. conicaulis were previously hypothesized to be primitive in Scolecopteris based on geologically younger species. Supposed primitive characters include the large synangium pedicel with fiber core, an outer‐facing sporangial wall lacking differentiation or zonation, and large spores. The anatomy of the sporangium walls, pinnule morphology, and general spore type support an association with the Minor group of Scolecopteris. The new species is similar in several important features to Scolecopteris (Cyathotrachus) altus , the only other anatomically preserved fertile marattialean known from this early time, and indicates a considerably earlier origin for fertile foliage of this type.