Pecopteris

Pecopteris villosa from the Mazon Creek Formation

Worldwide

Pecopteris is a genus of flowering plants, are summarized in the leaf fossils ( Morphotaxon ). They are found worldwide and often come temporally before and during the Carboniferous and Permian.

Features

Pecopteris are pinnate leaves. The Blattfiederchen are usually small and separate. They sit at with the whole width of the rachis. Their edges often run parallel or almost parallel. In the pinnules enters a single vascular bundle that extends almost to its tip. The end of the pinnules is rounded. The lateral nerves are straight to slightly curved, as well as simple or forked near the margin.

Systematic dissemination

Pecopteris leaves occur partly due to the carbon- temporal Farngattung Psaronius from the group of Marattiopsida. Furthermore, in some Polypodiopsida and at least one seed fern.

Others

There are about 300 known species. The Pecopteriden were mostly tree-like in your habit. The leaves have a fiederige Vein. The corresponding strains are, when they are preserved in structure, as described in Psaronius and superficial preservation as Caulopteris. In addition, the parent species Megaphyton, Hagiophyton and Artisophyton could be associated, but could not yet be clearly shown. It is also known Aphlebia many species ( protective sheets ) are assigned to this form genus.

Fertiles material is divided into the following Fruktifikationstypen: Senftenbergia, Scolecopteris, Ptychocarpus, Zeilleria, Asterotheca, Acitheca, dactylotheca. In the literature there are some places different assessments with the description of the Sporangientyps Scolecopteris, many authors ( Laveine, Josten and others) think that Asterotheca and Scolecopteris are the same. But M. Barthel 2009 is an assessment of the problem, so that exclusively belongs to Pecopteris Sternbergi Sporangientyp Asterotheca. He refers to Stur (1883 ) who, through his studies on this area then assigned correctly then everything, but was not recognized by its international peers.

For a long time, relatively few Pecopteris species ( Gutbier 1843, 1849 and Geinitz 1855 Daber 1955) were described from the Saxon coal district Zwickau- Oelsnitz, only Schultka (2009) discovered in the collections of local museums, many new previously unknown for Zwickau- Oelsnitz Pecopteris types and described it for the first time. It could be rendered as Daber 2002, a special connection to the Saarland area. Many species described so far only from there could be proven now here, with only the two Sporangientypen Senftenbergia and Scolecopteris were found in Zwickau- Oelsnitz. However, since the corresponding Sporangientyp from other sites is known for certain Pecopteris species, would also Ptychocarpus - and - Acitheca fructifications be found, but today is not the case.