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New species of Nematothallus from the Silurian Bloomsburg Formation of Pennsylvania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Paul K. Strother
Paul K. Strother*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
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Abstract

The early terrestrial fossil record contains numerous Siluro-Devonian problematic Thallophyta which have morphological and habitat characteristics intermediate between the algae and the embryophytic plant kingdom. Three new species of the genus Nematothallus Lang (N. taenia, N. lobata, and N. elliptica) are described from a coaly lens in the Bloomsburg Formation (Ludlow). They are included in the order Nematophytales, which is placed in a new informal taxonomic group, Paraphyta, intended to include enigmatic, terrestrial plant-like fossils. These species designations are based upon the gross morphology of carbonized thalli which consist of an underlying anatomy of flattened tubular elements. The association and attachment of cuticles and axes of ?Prototaxites to Nematothallus is clearly demonstrated in these collections. The morphological and anatomical variety expressed in the numerous fragments of thalli from the deposit implies moderate levels of organic diversity in a “flora” of nonvascular, terrestrial plant-like thallophytes which predates the adaptive radiation of the embryophytes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 62 , Issue 6 , November 1988 , pp. 967 - 982
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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