Cuticles of Lescuropteris genuina from the Stephanian (Upper Carboniferous) of Central France: evidence for a climbing growth habit

Abstract

This paper provides the first description of the cuticles of Lscuropterir genuina, a pteridosperm from the Upper Stephanian of the Blanzy-Montceau Basin, Central France. The status of the genus Lscuropterir, which is often compared with Odontopteris, is discussed. However, cuticles seem to justify a separate status. Of special interest is the discovery of a modified pinna terminal with well developed tendrils, providing evidence that L. genuina had a climbing growth habit. The ecology of L. genuina is discussed on the basis of new information on the epidermal anatomy. 01997 The Linnean Societv of London

Epidermal anatomy of Barthelopteris germarii from the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian of France and Germany

“…33, 1;Pl. 34, 2;Krings and Kerp, 1997a), the pinna axes of B. germarii, although the cell patterns are basically similar, bear only few hairs, except for the points of insertion of the pinnules (Fig. 11).…”

“…Cuticles were isolated with hydrofluoric acid from selected slabs showing brownish to blackish pinnules. These cuticles were subsequently macerated with Schulze's reagent following the method described by Krings and Kerp (1997b) and Kerp and Krings (in press). Cuticles were stained with Bismarck brown before embedding in permanent glycerine jelly slides.…”

The systematic and palaeoecological value of foliage anatomy in Late Palaeozoic medullosalean seed-plants

“…Stephanian medullosalean cuticles have also been investigated by Krings (1997Krings ( , 1999Krings ( , 2000a, Krings & Kerp (1997a, 1997b),Šimůnek (1999, and . Many of the taxa were lianescent plants and particular attention was paid to adaptations to this habit (e.g.…”

Neuropteris attenuata, a narrow-stemmed, leaning or lianescent seed fern from the Upper Pennsylvanian of Lower Saxony, Germany

“…Plant parts modified into specialized attachment devices, which are similar or even identical to those seen in extant vines and lianas, are critical in accurately reconstructing lianescent forms among the seed ferns. Since most of the evidence gathered to date on the attachment devices produced by Late Pennsylvanian impression/compression seed fern taxa comes from cuticle preparations (DiMichele et al, 1984;Kerp and Barthel, 1993;Krings and Kerp, 1997Krings et al, 2001Krings et al, , 2003b, our approach in the future will be to locate compression material of N. attenuata that is suitable for cuticular analysis.…”