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Arcellites stellatus new species, a new megaspore from the Lower Cretaceous of Maryland, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Michael D. Nowak
Affiliation:
1Department of Botany and Microbiology, 770 Van Vleet Oval, University of Oklahoma, Norman 73019,
Richard Lupia
Affiliation:
2Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, Norman 73072,

Extract

Dispersed megaspores with affinities to aquatic heterosporous ferns are relatively common in mesofossil assemblages from the Early Cretaceous to the Recent. Extant heterosporous ferns are free floating or shallow rooted freshwater plants, with a dominantly tropical to warm-temperate distribution (Tryon and Lugardon, 1991). Their heterosporous life cycle (including both megaspores and microspores) is likely to be an adaptation to their aquatic habit (Collinson, 1991; Hemsley et al., 1999; Kar and Dilcher, 2002). Thus the abundance of heterosporous fern megaspores, or the presence of heterosporous fern macrofossils, within a stratigraphic interval may be indicative of a shallow, calm, freshwater depositional environment (Hall, 1963; Batten et al., 1996; Rich et al., 2001).

Type
Paleontological Notes
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society

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