Petrified Peat from a Permian Coal Bed in Antarctica

Schopf, James M.

doi:10.1126/science.169.3942.274

Cited by 59 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Permineralized fossils of Glossopteris Brongniart were first found in the late 1960s in the central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica (Schopf 1970(Schopf , 1976, and by excavation at several localities in the Bowen Basin of Queensland, Australia (Gould 1970(Gould , 1975Gould and Delevoryas 1977). The anatomically preserved ovulebearing structures from the Homevale Station locality in Queensland were initially described by Gould and Delevoryas as a megasporophyll resembling the compression-impression genus Dictyopteridium Feistmantel that probably bore ovules on its adaxial surface.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

New evidence of reproductive organs of Glossopteris based on permineralized fossils from Queensland, Australia. I. Ovulate organ Homevaleia gen. nov.

Nishida

Pigg

Kudo³

et al. 2007

J Plant Res

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This study describes Homevaleia gouldii H. Nishida, Pigg, Kudo et Rigby gen. et sp. nov., an ovule-bearing glossopterid organ, based on a combination of recently collected permineralized specimens from the Late Permian Homevale Station locality in the Bowen Basin of Queensland, Australia, and on previously studied material from the 1977 Gould and Delevoryas study. Homevaleia, which resembles the compression-impression genus Dictyopteridium, is an inrolled megasporophyll with a distinct keel that bears numerous (over 70) stalked ovules on its adaxial surface. Ovules are small, oval, with an elaborate mesh-like structure that is developed from the outermost integumentary layers. Specimens interpreted as representing different developmental stages show there is an apparent interrelationship between megagametophyte development and the opening of the surrounding fertile structure for pollination. Together, new information provided by this material enables better understanding of glossopterid reproductive structure and its function in one distinctive form.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

New evidence of reproductive organs of Glossopteris based on permineralized fossils from Queensland, Australia. I. Ovulate organ Homevaleia gen. nov.

Nishida

Pigg

Kudo³

et al. 2007

J Plant Res

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“…Although Glossopteris leaves were the major component of Permian Antarctic floras (Cúneo et al 1993), the range of glossopterid ovules provides a better picture of plant diversity. Although anatomically preserved plant fossils have been known from the Permian of Skaar Ridge for decades (Schopf 1970), new specimens are still being found and described. The potential of this deposit to reveal anatomical information on the Glossopteridales has yet to be exhausted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The largest and most common ovule known from Skaar Ridge is Plectilospermum elliotii. It was illustrated but not described by Schopf (1970Schopf ( , 1976 and was the basis of an article on polyembryony (Smoot and Taylor 1986) before it was formally named and described (Taylor and Taylor 1987). The platyspermic ovules measure 4.8 mm x 3.1 mm and are easily identifiable in the Skaar Ridge peat since they are so large ( fig.…”

Section: Review Of Ovules Described From Skaar Ridgementioning

confidence: 99%

Lonchiphyllum aplospermum gen. et sp. nov.: An Anatomically Preserved Glossopterid Megasporophyll from the Upper Permian of Skaar Ridge, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica

Ryberg

Taylor

2013

International Journal of Plant Sciences

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A new anatomically preserved megasporophyll, Lonchiphyllum aplospermum, is described from permineralized peat collected on Skaar Ridge in the central Transantarctic Mountains. This new genus contains vascular features similar to those of the leaf genus Glossopteris schopfii, which is the exclusive leaf genus in the specimens in which the sporophylls were found. The vasculature of the sporophyll consists of a central vascular region with bordered pitting and anastomosing lateral bundles with helical-scalariform thickenings. Ovules are attached oppositely to suboppositely to lateral veins on the adaxial surface of the sporophyll. There is an abundance of bisaccate pollen of the Protohaploxypinus type at the base of the ovules. The ovules of Lonchiphyllum are small (1.1 mm X 0.97 mm) and ovate and have an unornamented integument. Comparison with anatomically known ovules from Skaar Ridge, i.e., Plectilospermum elliotii, Choanostoma verruculosum, and Lakkosia kerasata and Homevaleia gouldii from the Bowen Basin of Australia, supports the classification of Lonchiphyllum as a glossopterid. The differences in the sarcotesta and sclerotesta of all the Skaar Ridge ovules may indicate specialization for pollination or dispersal.

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“…Style loosely borrowed from murographs in Walker (1983 Schopf 1970aSchopf , b, 1976Taylor & Taylor 1992;Taylor et al 2007;Ryberg et al 2012a;Ryberg & Taylor 2013). Nevertheless, it is possible that the host represents a permineralization equivalent of a reproductive structure described from Antarctica based on impression/compression fossils such as Cometia, Scutum, Lidgettoniopsis, Plumsteadia, Arberiella, or Rigbya (Lambrecht et al 1972, Kyle 1974, Schopf 1976, McLoughlin et al 1997, Rigby et al 2001, Retallack et al 2005, Ryberg 2009, Ryberg et al 2012c, but this is impossible to know based on the specimen at hand.…”

Section: The Hostmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is in spite of the fact that the Antarctic Permian deposits have yielded a number of structurally preserved plant fossils, including a moss, lycopsids, a fern, and several different seed plants (Smoot & Taylor 1986;Galtier & Taylor 1994;McLoughlin & Drinnan 1996;Slater et al 2011;Ryberg et al 2012a, b;McLoughlin et al 2015). The vast majority (> 80% of specimens in some localities; Cúneo et al 1993) of plant remains preserved in the Permian peat are disarticulated parts of glossopterid seed ferns (e.g., Schopf 1970aSchopf , b, 1976Smoot & Taylor 1986;Taylor & Taylor 1987, 1992Klavins et al 2001;Taylor et al 2007;Ryberg 2009Ryberg , 2010Ryberg et al 2012a;Ryberg & Taylor 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fungal sporulation in a Permian plant fragment from Antarctica

Harper¹,

Taylor²,

Walker³

et al. 2018

Bull. Geosci.

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Documented evidence of fungi from the Permian of Antarctica mostly consists of dispersed remains that do not provide the whole complement of diagnostic features necessary to determine even broad systematic affinities. A dense cluster of > 250 fungal spores occurs within a degraded vascular plant (probably glossopteridalean) fragment in Permian permineralized peat from Skaar Ridge, central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. Spores are spheroidal to ovoid, 50 µm in diameter, and possess a massive wall composed of three wall components (wc1-3); one or two canals extend from the spore lumen to the outside. The spores are embedded in a confluent meshwork of tenuous hyphae. Structural similarities exist between the fossil spores and spores produced by certain present-day Mucoromycota, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota; however, the precise systematic affinities of the fossils cannot be determined. The relationship between the spore producer and its also host plant remains unresolved. Nevertheless, the spatial arrangement of the spores within the plant structure suggests that the fungus required the host for sporulation, and perhaps even influenced plant development for this purpose. This discovery adds to the inventory of distinctive fungal fossils from the Permian of Antarctica and presents a new type of association/interaction between a Permian fungus and a vascular plant.• Key words: development, interaction, Glossopteris, parasitism, saprotrophism, spore wall. HARPER, C

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Petrified Peat from a Permian Coal Bed in Antarctica

Cited by 59 publications

References 1 publication

New evidence of reproductive organs of Glossopteris based on permineralized fossils from Queensland, Australia. I. Ovulate organ Homevaleia gen. nov.

New evidence of reproductive organs of Glossopteris based on permineralized fossils from Queensland, Australia. I. Ovulate organ Homevaleia gen. nov.

Lonchiphyllum aplospermum gen. et sp. nov.: An Anatomically Preserved Glossopterid Megasporophyll from the Upper Permian of Skaar Ridge, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica

Fungal sporulation in a Permian plant fragment from Antarctica

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