Note on the only known record of a cupulate seed from the Middle Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeol.2021.011Abstract
The only known lyginopterid cupulate seed collected from the Middle Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield in Nova Scotia, Canada, comprises a coalified cupule surrounding an ovate structure 3×2 mm in size that is interpreted as an ovule. The ovule is white, reflecting its calcitic mode of preservation, and lacks cellular remains. As the specimen is incomplete, a detailed taxonomic determination is not possible, but its affinities lie within the lyginopterid (or hydrasperman) pteridosperms. This significant discovery of a lyginopterid pteridosperm aug-ments previous accounts of medullosalean pteridosperms from the flora of Sydney Coalfield.
References
Arnold, C.A. 1938. Paleozoic seeds. Botanical Review, 4, pp. 205−234. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02871648 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02871648
Bateman, R.M. and Hilton, J. 2009. Palaeobotanical systematics for the phylogenetic age: applying organ-species, form-species and phylogenetic species concepts in a framework of reconstructed fossil and extant whole-plants. Taxon, 58, pp. 1254−1280. https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.584016 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.584016
Cleal, C.J., Zodrow, E.L., and Mastalerz, M. 2010. An association of Alethopteris foliage, Trigonocarpus ovules and Bernaultia-like pollen organs from the Middle Pennsylvanian of Nova Scotia, Canada. Palaeontographica Abteilung B, 283, pp. 73−97. https://doi.org/10.1127/palb/283/2010/73 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1127/palb/283/2010/73
D’Angelo, J.A. and Zodrow, E.L. 2011. Chemometric study of functional groups in different layers of Trigonocarpus grandis ovules (Pennsylvanian seed fern, Canada). Organic Geochemistry, 42, pp. 1039−1054. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2011.06.022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2011.06.022
Gensel, P.G. and Skog, J.E. 1977. Two early Mississippian seeds from the Price Formation of southwestern Virginia. Brittonia, 29, pp. 332−351. https://doi.org/10.2307/2806206 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2806206
Gillespie, W.H., Rothwell, G.A., and Scheckler, S.E. 1981. The earliest seeds. Nature, 293, pp. 462−464. https://doi.org/10.1038/293462a0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/293462a0
Halle, T.G. 1933. The structure of certain fossil spore-bearing organs believed to belong to pteridosperms. Kunglia Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar, Tredje Serien, Band, 12 (6), 103 pp., pl. 1−15.
Lucas, S.P. 2018. The GSSP method of chronostratigraphy: a critical review. Frontiers in Earth Science, 6, Article 191, pp. 1−18. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2018.00191 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2018.00191
Luthardt, L., Galtier, J., Meyer-Berthaud, B., Mencl, V., and Rössler, R. 2021. Medullosan seed ferns of seasonally-dry habitats: old and new perspectives on enigmatic elements of Late Pennsylvanian−Early Permian intramontaine basinal vegetation. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2021.104400 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2021.104400
Meade, L., Planket, A.R.G., and Hilton, J. 2020. Reconstructing development of the earliest seed integuments raises a new hypothesis for the evolution of ancestral seed-bearing structures. New Phytologist. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16792 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16792
Nelson, W.J. and Lucas, S.P. 2021. The Cantabrian and Barruelian substages (Stephanian Stage, Carboniferous) were never properly defined and should be dropped from formal usage. Fossil Record 7, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 82, pp. 285−296.
Sakala, J. 2004. The ‘whole plant’ in palaeobotany with examples from the Tertiary of northwestern Bohemia, Czech Republic with particular reference to fossil wood. Published PhD Thesis, Charles University, Prague and Université Pierre-et Marie Curie, Paris, 94 p.
Schopf, J.M. 1975. Modes of fossil preservation. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 20, pp. 27−53. https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-6667(75)90005-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-6667(75)90005-6
Seyfullah, L.J., Hilton, J., Liang, M.M., and Wang, S.J. 2010. Resolving the systematic and phylogenetic position of isolated ovules: a case study from a new genus from the Upper Permian of China. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 164, pp. 84−108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2010.01069.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2010.01069.x
Stopes, M. C. 1914. The “Fern Ledges” Carboniferous Flora of St. John, New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 41, pp. 142, pl. I–XXV. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.64206 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.64206
Van Amerom, H.W.J. 1975. Die eusphenopterdischen Pteridophyllen aus der Sammlung des geologischen Bureaus in Heerlen, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung ihrer Stratigraphie bezüglich des Südlimburger Kohlenreviers. Mededelingen Rijks Geologische Dienst, Serie C-III-1, no. 7, pp. 1−208.
Zodrow, E.L. 2002. The “medullosalean forest” at the Lloyd Cove Seam (Pennsylvanian, Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia, Canada). Atlantic Geology, 38, pp. 177−195. https://doi.org/10.4138/1261 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4138/1261
Zodrow, E.L. 2004. Note on different kinds of attachments in trigonocarpalean (Medullosales) ovules from the Pennsylvanian Sydney Coalfield, Canada. Atlantic Geology, 40, pp. 197−2006. https://doi.org/10.4138/1039 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4138/1039
Zodrow, E.L. and Cleal, C.J. 1985. Phyto- and chronostratigraphical correlations between the late Pennsylvanian Morien Group (Sydney, Nova Scotia) and the Silesian Pennant Measures (south Wales). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 22, pp. 1465−1473. https://doi.org/10.1139/e85-152 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/e85-152
Zodrow, E.L. and Mastalerz, M. 2019. A novel preservation state of Dolerotheca (medullosalean male organ) from the Late Pennsylvanian of the Sydney Coalfield,Nova Scotia, Canada. Atlantic Geology, 55, pp. 213−225. https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeol.2019.008 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeol.2019.008
Zodrow, E.L. and McCandlish, K. 1980. On a Trigonocarpus species attached to Neuropteris (Mixoneura) flexuosa from the Sydney Coalfield, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 30, pp.57−66. https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-6667(80)90006-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-6667(80)90006-8
Zodrow, E.L., Helleur, R., Werner-Zwanziger, U., Chen, B., and D’Angelo, J.A. 2013. Spectrochemical study of coalified Trigonocarpus grandis (Pennsylvanian tree-fern ovule, Canada): implications for fossil-organ linkage. International Journal of Coal Geology, 109−110, pp. 24−35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2013.01.013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2013.01.013
Zodrow, E.L., D’Angelo, J.A., and Al-Shra’ah, A. 2014. Morphology and histochemistry of coalified Trigonocarpus grandis (Sydney Coalfield, Canada): implications for the preservation, chemotaxonomy, and evolution of Carboniferous medullosalean ovules. International Journal of Coal Geology, 122, pp. 61−75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2013.12.008 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2013.12.008
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
As of January 1, 2025, Atlantic Geoscience is adopting Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) This license requires that reusers give credit to the creator. It allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes.
Copyright to material published in Atlantic Geoscience is normally retained by the author. Alternate arrangements can be made on request for government employees.
Permission to use a single graphic for which the author owns copyright is considered “fair dealing” under the Canadian Copyright Act and “fair use” by the journal, and no other permission need be granted, subject to the image being appropriately cited in all reproductions. The same fair dealing/fair use policy applies to sections of text up to 100 words in length.
