Corystospermaceae
Corystosperms are a group of extinct seed plants belonging to the family Corystospermaceae assigned to the order Corystospermales[2] or Umkomasiales.[3] They were first described based on fossils collected by Hamshaw Thomas from the Burnera Waterfall locality near the Umkomaas River of South Africa.[4] Corystosperms are typified by a group of plants that bore Dicroidium leaves, Umkomasia ovulate structures and Pteruchus pollen organs, that were widespread over Gondwana during the Middle and Late Triassic. Other fossil Mesozoic seed plants with similar 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.[3] A potential corystosperm, the leaf fossil Komlopteris cenozoicus, is known from the Eocene of Tasmania, at least 13 million years after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.[5]

Corystospermaceae Temporal range: | |
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Umkomasia macleanii reconstructed plant, Late Triassic, Molteno Formation, Umkomaas, South Africa. Including Dicroidium leaves (D), Umkomasia ovulate organ (L-P), and Pteruchus pollen organ (H-K)[1] | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Order: | †Corystospermales |
Family: | †Corystospermaceae Thomas 1933 |
Genera | |
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Description
Umkomasiaceae have helmet-like cupules around ovules born in complex large branching structures (Umkomasia). The pollen organ (Pteruchus) has numerous cigar-shaped pollen sacs hanging from epaulette-like blades, again in complex branching structures.

The leaves (Dicroidium) are tied to the fertile organs by similarities of cuticular structure, because their cuticles were robust like those of gymnosperms and unlike the thin leaves of ferns.

See also
References
- Retallack, G.J.; Dilcher, D.L. (1988). "Reconstructions of selected seed ferns". Missouri Botanical Garden Annals. 75 (3): 1010–1057. doi:10.2307/2399379. JSTOR 2399379.
- Abu Hamad, A.; Blomenkemper, P.; Kerp, H.; Bomfleur, B. (December 2017). "Dicroidium bandelii sp. nov. (corystospermalean foliage) from the Permian of Jordan". PalZ. 91 (4): 641–648. doi:10.1007/s12542-017-0384-2. ISSN 0031-0220.
- Shi, Gongle; Herrera, Fabiany; Herendeen, Patrick S.; Clark, Elizabeth G.; Crane, Peter R. (2022-12-31). "Silicified cupulate seed-bearing structures from the Early Cretaceous of eastern Inner Mongolia, China: rethinking the corystosperm concept". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 20 (1): 1–33. doi:10.1080/14772019.2022.2133644. ISSN 1477-2019. S2CID 253562726.
- Thomas, H.H. (1933). "On some pteridospermous plants from the Mesozoic rocks of South Africa". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 222 (483–493): 193–265. doi:10.1098/rstb.1932.0016.
- McLoughlin, Stephen; Carpenter, Raymond J.; Jordan, Gregory J.; Hill, Robert S. (2008). "Seed ferns survived the end-Cretaceous mass extinction in Tasmania". American Journal of Botany. 95 (4): 465–471. doi:10.3732/ajb.95.4.465. ISSN 1537-2197. PMID 21632371.
External links
- "Fossilworks: Lepidopteris". paleodb.org. Retrieved 2016-03-18.