Uskiella
| Uskiella Temporal range: Early Devonian | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Genus: | †Uskiella Shute & D.Edwards 1989[1] |
| Species | |
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†U. spargens Shute & D.Edwards 1989 | |
Uskiella is a genus of small fossil plants of Early Devonian age (around 420 to 390 million years ago). The diagnostic characters are naked axes branching isotomously, terminating in ellipsoidal, vertically elongate flat sporangia which split longitudinally into two valves.[1] Spores of U. reticulata have a reticulate appearance.[2] Coalified specimens have been reported from Wales,[2] with a possible occurrence in Australia.[1]
The relationships of the genus are not clear because many anatomical details remain unknown. In 2004, Crane et al. published a cladogram for the polysporangiophytes in which Uskiella is basal to the lycophytes (clubmosses and relatives).[3]
| tracheophytes |
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References
- 1 2 3 Shute, C.H. & Edwards, D. (1989), "A new rhyniopsid with novel sporangium organization from the Lower Devonian of Wales", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 100 (2): 111–137, doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1989.tb01713.x
- 1 2 Fanning, U.; Edwards, D. & Richardson, J.B. (1992), "A diverse assemblage of early land plants from the Lower Devonian of the Welsh Borderland", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 109 (2): 161–188, doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1992.tb00264.x
- ↑ Crane, P.R.; Herendeen, P. & Friis, E.M. (2004), "Fossils and plant phylogeny", American Journal of Botany, 91 (10): 1683–99, doi:10.3732/ajb.91.10.1683, PMID 21652317, retrieved 2011-01-27