Spongiophyton

• Worldwide

Spongiophyton is a fossil from the Devonian, which is of variety of contexts, known worldwide. It was interpreted as colony -forming animal than algae, vascular plant and moss as.

The specimens are about 2.5 cm long and consist of branched axes with rounded ends. One side of the thallus bears circular pores of 200 to 300 microns in diameter. These are compared with the pores of modern liverwort Marchantia like. They could have served the gas exchange and may represent a transitional stage in the evolution of stomata dar. Their presence also led to the interpretation that Spongiophyton grew up in a dry environment. This is also supported by the presence of a cuticle or cuticula -like surface layer covering the thallus. On the side of the pore, this layer is three times as thick as the other side having no pores.

Neither internal tissues or reproductive organs are known.

Documents

• Thomas N. Taylor, Edith L. Taylor, Michael Krings: Paleobotany. The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants. Second Edition, Academic Press 2009, ISBN 978-0-12-373972-8, pp. 185f.

• Extinct plant
• Eukaryotes
• Eukaryota