Current IF 1.9
Latest issue (RSS 2.0)
Contact Editorial Office at
bulletin@geology.cz

Bulletin of Geosciences
Published by ©
Czech Geological Survey,
W. Bohemia Museum Pilsen
Individual sponsors
ISSN: 1802-8225 (online),
1214-1119 (print)

Some Pennsylvanian arborescent lycopsid cones and their microspores from the British coalfields
Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 84, issue 2; pages: 203 - 226; Received 3 June 2008; Accepted in revised form 26 January 2009; Online 27 March 2009
Keywords: Lepidostrobus, Flemingites, Sigillariostrobus, in situ spores, Lycospora, Crassispora,
Abstract
Six fructifications of arborescent lycopsids and their in situ spores from the Westphalian Coal Measures of the Pennine Basin and the Clackmannan Coalfield in Scotland, UK, were studied to improve our knowledge of their taxonomic characteristics and to provide a basis for the comparison of the floras of the British and Czech coalfields. The cones, which yielded in situ spores, were assigned to the genera Lepidostrobus (Brongniart) Brack-Hanes & Thomas, Flemingites (Carruthers) Brack-Hanes & Thomas and Sigillariostrobus Schimper. Lepidostrobus cones are represented by four species/specimens that can be subdivided into two groups based on their in situ spores. L. boltonensis n. sp., L. huttonii n. sp.and L. spinosus Kidston contain cingulizonate lycospores with relatively narrow cingulum and narrow zona which are comparable with the dispersed species Lycospora subjuga Bharadwaj, L. brevijuga Kosanke, L. triangulata Bharadwaj, L. microgranulata Bharadwaj or L. contacta Habib. The cone L. cf. obovatus yielded in situ lycospores with narrow cingulum and wide zona similar to those of the dispersed species Lycospora loganii (Wilson) Potonié & Kremp, L.pellucida (Wicher) Schopf, Wilson & Bentall, L. micropapillata (Wilson & Coe) Schopf, Wilson & Bentall, L.micrograna Hacquebard & Barss, L. intermedia (Wilson & Hoffmeister) Wilson & Hoffmeister, L. pseudoannulata Kosanke and L. perforata Bharadwaj & Venkatachala. The genus Flemingites is represented by F. cf. russelianus Binney. The Flemingites cone yields in situ microspores identified as the Lycospora orbicula-type. Sigillarian cones are rare and were represented by a single specimen of Sigillariostrobus acicularis n. sp. which contained Crassispora kosankei-type microspores. Only one of these British species (Lepidodendron cf. obovatus) is unequivocally present inthe coalfields of central and western Bohemia. It is probable that Flemingites cf. russelianus also occurs in both areas.References
Abbott, M.L. 1963. Lycopod fructifications from the Upper Freeport (No. 7) coal in southeastern Ohio. Palaeontographica B 112, 93-118.
Amerom Van, H.W.J. & Gaipl, R. 1995. Ein bemerkenswerter Sigillariostrobus-fund (Sigillariostrobus angustus sp. nov.) aus dem Westfal B der Grube Anna, Alsdorf (Nordrhein- Westfalen, Deutschland). Palaeontographica B 235, 51-60.
Arber, E.A.N. 1922-1924. Critical studies on coal measure plant impressions. Linnean Society Journal of Botany 46, 171-217.
Balbach, M.K. 1966. Microspore variation in Lepidostrobus and comparison with Lycospora. Micropaleontology 12, 334-342.
Bateman, R.M. 1994. Evolutionary-developmental change in the growth architecture of fossil rhizomorphic lycopsids: scenarios constructed on cladistic foundations. Biological Reviews 69, 527-598.
Bateman, R.M., DiMichele, W.A. & Willard, D.A. 1992. Experimental cladistic analysis of anatomically preserved arborescent lycopsids from the Carboniferous of Euramerica: an essay on paleobotanical phyllogenetics. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 79, 500-559.
Bek, J. 1998. Spore populations of some plants of groups Lycophyta, Sphenophyta, Pteridophyta and Progymnospermophyta from Carboniferous limnic basins of the Czech Republic. 505 pp. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Geological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague. [in Czech]
Bek, J. & Opluštil, S. 1998. Some lycopsid, sphenopsid and pteropsid fructifications and their miospores from the Upper Carboniferous basins of the Bohemian Massif. Palaeontographica B 248, 127-161.
Bek, J. & Opluštil, S. 2004. Palaeoecological constraints of some Lepidostrobus cones and their parent plants from the Late Palaeozoic continental basins of the Czech Republic. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 131, 49-89.
Bek, J. & Opluštil, S. 2006. Six rare Lepidostrobus cones from the Pennsylvanian of the Czech Republic and their bearing on the classification of lycospores. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 139, 211-226.
Binney, E.W. 1870-1875. Observations on the structure of fossil plants found in the Carboniferous strata. 147 pp. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, London.
Bocheński, T. 1936. Über Sporophyllstände (Blüten) einiger Lepidophyten aus dem produktiven Karbon Polens. Annales de la Société géologique de Pologne 12, 193-240.
Bocheński, T. 1939. On the structure of sigillarian cones and the mode of their association with their stems. Prace Geologiczne 7, 1-28.
Brack, S.D. 1970. On a new structurally preserved arborescent lycopsid fructification from the Lower Pennsylvanian of North America. American Journal of Botany 57, 317-330.
Brack-Hanes, S.D. & Thomas, B.A. 1983. A re-examination of Lepidostrobus Brongniart. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 86, 125-133.
Brongniart, A. 1828. Historie des végétaux fossiles, ou recherches botaniques et géologiques sur les végétaux renfermés dans les diverses couches du globe. 1 - 488 pp.; 2 - 72 pp. G. Dufour & E. d’Ocagne, Paris.
Carpentier, A. 1933. Sur quelques épis de lépidodnedrées du Westphalien du basin de Valenciennes. Annales de la Société scientifique de Bruxelles 53B, 133-137.
Carruthers, W. 1865. On an undescribed cone from the Carboniferous beds of Aidrie, Lanarkshire. Geological Magazine 2, 433-440.
Chaloner, W.G. 1953a. On the megaspores of four species of Lepidostrobus. Annals of Botany 17, 264-273.
Chaloner, W.G. 1953b. On the megaspores of Sigillaria. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History 12, 881-897.
Chaloner, W.G. 1967. Lycophyta, 435-802. In Boureau, E. (ed.) Traité de Paléobotanique, II, Bryophyta, Psilophyta, Lycophyta. Masson, Paris.
Chaloner, W.G. 1986. Reassembling the whole fossil plant, and naming it, 67-78. In Spicer, R.A. & Thomas, B.A. (eds) Systematic and taxonomic approaches in palaeobotany. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Chaloner, W.G. 1999. Taxonomic and nomenclatural alternatives, 179-183. In Jones, T.P. & Rowe, N.P. (eds) Fossil plants and spores: modern techniques. Geological Society, London.
Chapman, G.R. 1999. Coal Resources Map of Britain. British Geological Survey, NERC and The Coal Authority, Bristol.
Cleal, C.J., Dimitrova, T.K. & Zodrow, E.L. 2003. Macrofloral and palynological criteria for recognising the Westphalian- Stephanian boundary. Newsletters on Stratigraphy 39, 181-208.
Cleal, C.J. & Shute, C.H. 2007. The effect of drying on epidermal cell parameters preserved on plant cuticles. Acta Palaeobotanica 47, 315-326.
Courvoisier, J.M.&Phillips, T.L. 1975. Correlation of spores from Pennsylvanian coal-ball fructifications with dispersed spores. Micropaleontology 21, 45-49.
Crookall, R. 1964. Fossil Plants of the Carboniferous Rocks of Great Britain. Memoirs of the Geol. Survey of Great Britain. Palaeontology 4(3), 217-354.
Crookall, R. 1966. Fossil Plants of the Carboniferous Rocks of Great Britain. Memoirs of the Geol. Survey of Great Britain. Palaeontology 4(4), 355-572.
Dettmann, M.E. 1963. Upper Mesozoic microfloras from south-eastern Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 77, 1-148.
Drábek, K. 1967. Spóry ze šištic Lepidodender. 56 pp. Master thesis, Facilty of Sciences, Charles University, Prague. [in Czech]
Feistmantel, O. 1871. Steinkohlen von Kralup in Böhmen. Abhandlungen der Königl. Böhmischen Gesselschaft der Wissenschaften 6(5).
Felix, C.J. 1954. Some American arborescent lycopod fructifications. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 41, 351-394.
Feng, B.C. & Rothwell, G.W. 1989. Microsporangiate cones of Mazocarpon bensonii (Lycopsida) from the Upper Pennsylvanian of the Appalachian Basin. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 57, 289-297.
Feng, Z., Wang, J. & Bek, J. 2008. Nudasporestrobus ningxicus gen. et sp. nov., a novel sigillarian megasporangiate cone from the Bashkirian (Early Pennsylvanian) of Ningxia, northwestern China. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 149, 150-162.
Forey, P., Fortey, R., Kenrick, P. & Smith, A.B. 2004. Taxonomy and fossils: a critical appraisal. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 359, 639-653.
Geinitz, H.B. 1855. Die Versteinerungen der Steinkohlenformation in Sachsen. 61 pp. Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig.
Geinitz, E. 1973. Versteinerungen aus dem Brandschiefer der unteren Dyas von Weissig bei Pillnitz in Sachsen. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie, 691-704.
Hagemann, H.W. 1966. Sporen aus köhlig erhaltenen Lepidophytenzapfen des Westfals. Fortschritte in der Geologie von Rheinland und Westphalen 13(1), 317-388.
Kidston, R. 1893/4. On Lepidophloios and on British species of the genus. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 37(3).
Kidston, R. 1888. On the fossil flora of the Radstock series of the Sommerset and Bristol coal fields, Ayrshire (Upper coal measures). Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 33(2).
Kidston, R. 1889. Additional notes on some British Carboniferous Lycopods. The Annals and Magazine of Natural History 6(4), 1-60.
Kidston, R. 1891. On the fossil flora of the Staffordshire coal fields II. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 36.
Kidston, R. 1893. On the fossil flora of the South Wales coal field and the relationship of its strata to the Sommerset and Bristol coal fields. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 37(3).
Leisman, G.A. & Rivers, R.L. 1974. On the reproductive organs of Lepidodendron serratum Felix. C.R. Rendu Septieme Congres International de Stratigraphie et Géologie du Carbonifére, Krefeld, Band 3, 351-365.
Lindley, J. & Hutton,W. 1831-1837. The fossil flora of Great Britain, or figures and descriptions of the vegetable remains found in a fossil state in the country. I - 223 pp.; II - 208 pp.; III - 208 pp. James Rigdway & Sons, London.
Mathews, G.B. 1940. New lepidostrobi from central Unites States. Botanical Gazette 102, 26-49.
Meyen, S.V. 1987. Fundamentals of Palaeobotany. 432 pp. Chapman & Hall, London.
McNeill, J., Barrie, F.R., Burdet, H.M., Demoulin, V., Hawksworth, D.L., Marhold, K., Nicolson, D.H., Prado, J., Silva, P.C., Skog, J.E., Wiersema, J.H. & Turland, N.J. 2006. International code of botanical nomenclature (Vienna Code) adopted by the Seventeenth International Botanical Congress, Vienna, Austria, July 2005. 568 pp. A.R.G. Ganter Königstein.
Moore, L. R. 1946. On the spores of some Carboniferous plants, their development. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 102, 251-298.
Němejc, F. 1947. The Lepidodendraceae of the coaldistricts of Central Bohemia. Sborník Národního muzea v Praze, Řada B 7(2), 45-87.
Němejc, F. 1954. Taxonomical studies on the strobili of the Lepidodendraceae of the coal district of Central Bohemia. Sborník Národního muzea v Praze, Řada B 10, 1-84.
Opluštil, S. & Cleal, C.J. 2007. A comparative analysis of some Late Carboniferous basins of Variscan Europe. Geological Magazine 144, 417-448.
Parkinson, J. 1804. Organic remains of a former world. Vol. I, The Vegetable Kingdom. i-xii pp. Sherwood, Neely & Jones, London.
Phillips, T.L. & DiMichele, W.A. 1992. Comparative ecology and life-history biology of arborescent lycopsids in late Carboniferous swamps of Euramerica. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 79, 560-588.
Pigg, K.B. 1983. The morphology and reproductive biology of the sigillarian cone Mazocarpon. Botanical Gazette 144, 600-613.
Potonié, R. & Kremp, G. 1954. Die Gattungen der Palaözoischen Sporae dispersae und ihre Stratigraphie. Geologisches Jahrbuch 69, 111-193.
Potonié, R. & Kremp, G. 1955. Die Sporae dispersae des Ruhrkarbons ihre Morphographie und Stratigraphie mit Ausblicken auf Arten anderer Gebiete und Zeitabschnitte. Teil I. Palaeontographica, Abteilung B 98, 1-136.
Remy, W. & Rettschlag, W. 1954. Beiträge zur Kenntnis einiger Paläozoischer Fruktifikationen. Geologie 3, 582-586.
Schimper, W.P. 1870. Traité de paléontologie végétale. Tome II. Paris.
Schopf, J.M. 1941. Contribution to Pennsylvanian paleobotany. Mazocarpon oedipternum sp. nov. and sigillarian relationships. Illinois State Geological Survey, Report of Investigation 75, 1-40.
Scott, D.H. 1909. Studies in Fossil Botany, 2. edition. 552 pp. A. & C. Black Ltd., London.
Sen, J. 1958. Notes on the spores of four Carboniferous lycopods. Micropalaleontology 4(2), 159-164.
Smith, A.H.V. & Butterworth, M.A. 1967. Miospores in the coal seams of the Carboniferous of Great Britain. Special Papers in Palaeontology 1, 1-324.
Schumacker-Lambry, J. 1966. Étude d’un cône de Lepidodendraceae du houiller Belge: Achlamydocarpon belgicum gen. et sp. nov. Mémoires de l’Académie royale des sciences, des lettres et des beaux-arts de Belgique 17, 5-27.
Taylor, T.N. & Eggert, D. 1968. Petrified plants from the Upper Mississippian of North America II. Lepidostrobus fayettevillense sp. nov. American Journal of Botany 55, 306-313.
Thomas, B.A. 1965. Some studies on Carboniferous lycopods. Ph.D. thesis, Reading University.
Thomas, B.A. 1970. A new specimen of Lepidostrobus binneyanus from the Westphalian B of Yorkshire. Pollen et Spores 12, 217-234.
Thomas, B.A. 1978. Carboniferous Lepidodendraceae and Lepidocarpaceae. The Botanical Review 44(3), 321-364.
Thomas, B.A. 1987. The use of in-situ spores for defining species of dispersed spores. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 51, 227-233.
Thomas, B.A. 1988. The fine structure of the Carboniferous lycophyte microspore Lycospora perforata Bharadwaj and Venkatachala. Pollen et Spores 30, 81-88.
Thomas, B.A. 2007. Phytogeography of Asturian (Westphalian D) lycophytes throughout the Euramerican belt of coalfields. Geological Magazine 144, 457-463.
Thomas, B.A. & Brack-Hanes, S.D. 1984. A new approach to family groupings in the lycophytes. Taxon 33, 247-255.
Thomas, B.A. & Brack-Hanes, S.D. 1991. A re-examination of Cantheliophorus Bassler. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 183(1/3), 203-215.
Thomas, B.A. & Dytko, A. 1980. Lepidostrobus haslingdenensis: a new species from the Lancashire Millstone Grit. Geological Journal 15, 137-142.
Willard, D.A. 1989a. Source plants for Carboniferous microspores: Lycospora from permineralized Lepidostrobus. American Journal of Botany 76, 820-826.
Willard, D.A. 1989b. Lycospora from Carboniferous Lepidostrobus compressions. American Journal of Botany 76, 1429-1440.
Wood, J.M. 1957. The morphology and relationships of sigillarian fructifications from the Lower Pennsylvanian of Indiana. American Midland Naturalist 58(1), 141-154.