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I am attaching images of Pennsylvanian seed ferns that were identified by the collectors. The fossils from Kentucky were generally found in the shale around closed down coal mines on family farms. Hopefully these images may assist others in identifying their specimens. Comments/suggestions/corrections are welcome and I also would appreciate specimen identification beyond the genus level for many of the specimens. The first image is of a Pennsylvanian alethopteris specimen from eastern Kentucky: Pennsylvanian alethopteris from eastern Kentucky. Pennsylvanian cyclopteris (upper right) and macroneuropteris specimens from eastern Kentucky. Pennsylvanian eusphenopteris specimen from eastern Kentucky. Pennsylvanian mariopteris specimen from eastern Kentucky. Pennsylvanian Pecopteris plumosa specimen from Upper Silesia in Poland. Pennsylvanian pecopteris specimen from eastern Kentucky. Pennsylvanian sphenopteris specimen from eastern Kentucky. Pennsylvanian crenulopteris specimen from Mazon Creek, Illinois. A helpful Forum member suggested this could be crenulopteris acadica. This last Pennsylvanian specimen is from Mazon Creek, Illinois identified by one individual as Lobatopteris lamuriana and in addition a helpful Forum member suggested that it is possibly a diplazites unita.

My hope is that someone can confirm that this fern fossil is Sphenopteris artemisaefolioides. Any additional information on this species would be appreciated.

These are Carboniferous fossils preserved within sideritic concretions found near Terre Haute Indiana.They were collected from the Busseron Sandstone Member of the Shelburn Formation, in shales above the coal seam Coal (No. 7) and are dated from the Middle Pennsylvanian, which correlates with the Westphalian D. Macroneuroptis are common at the location that I collect but this is the first Trifolate Macroneuropteris that I've found.When it first split only one of the ovoid shaped basal pinnules was exposed. A tap of the hammer exposed the second basal pinnule and I secured it with a little glue. Unfortunately the apex of this leaf is missing but I was still happy to have found it.

Hi all, The specimen below comes from the Asturian (Westphalian D) of the Piesberg quarry near Osnabrück, Germany. It has been in my collection for some years already, but I never managed to ID it further than "something with Sphenopteris-like pinnules". Recently, I bought some new literature and now I think I have some sort of ID, but am definitely stuck on the species level (and hence also not quite sure yet about the generic level.) The specimen from the Piesberg shows a strong resemblance to Oligocarpia gutbierii Göppert 1841 as figured by Kidston (1923), Plate LXX figs. 1-3. Both the presence and the specific appearance of the aphlebia on my specimen (encircled in light blue) also correspond well with Kidston's description text, as well as the aforementioned figures. By contrast, the Oligocarpia gutbierii specimens figured by Kidston (1923) on Plate LXXV, figs 1-2 do not look like my specimen at all (this may be related to them coming from another position in the larger frond - not clear to me.) The specimens figured by Kidston (1923) under Oligocarpia brongniartii Stur 1883 (Plate LXIX, figs 2-3) show less resemblance to the Piesberg specimen. However, in literature dealing with the Piesberg locality, only this species is mentioned to occur (e.g. Josten, 1991). Comparing my specimen to Oligocarpia gutbierii and Oligocarpia brongniartii as figured by Brousmiche (1983), i.e. Plates 57-61 and Plates 62-64, respectively, neither seems to be a very good match. Unfortunately, my French is not good enough to recognise the subtle differences that may be described in the accompanying text volume. Moreover, my specimen is a sterile frond, rendering the most clearly defined differences between Oligocarpia gutbierii and Oligocarpia brongiartii unusable. The venation is difficult to photograph and see, due to gümbelite mineralisation (orange colour), but visible when the specimen is held at an angle to a light source. Under these constraints, what would be the best way to discriminate between these two (and perhaps other) species? Or am I dealing with something else completely? Thanks, Tim

These fossils are from our second visit to St. Clair (Aug 4) - several are fossils we haven't seen before so we appreciate help with IDs. Special thanks to Fossildude19 for the excellent starting points. Note: some of the images are out of order when you look at the photos below, because I am renaming and reposting them as they are being identified: 1 - Pecopteris Squamosa - This is small and the leaves are very close together and parallel - based on Lesquereux - amazing that some of the best fern identification sources are from 1879! 2 - Calamites Stem Fragment - A thin Calamites branch. 3 - Unidentified Plant - Nancy calls this a "flower" - of course it isn't, but it seems to be a different shape from others we collected at St. Clair. 4 - Alethopteris and Annularia - Included this because it makes for a nice artistic layout. 5a-5b - Asterophyllites equisetiformis - This interesting pattern appears over a large area several meters square in one part of the St. Clair site, and covers the surface of a very large flat boulder in one area of the site. (source: 6 - Siggilaria - This is our second Siggilaria trunk impression. Some of the trunk and branch fossils (Calamites, Siggilaria) are very exotic and interesting to collect. 7a-7c - Trigonocarpus (Seeds of the Alethopteris Fern) - The same shape appears in three different samples collected on our two trips and according to our friends on the site and reference materials, they appear to be Trigonocarpus seeds, which is very exciting because we keep reading about seed ferns but these are our first fossil seeds. One reference describes Trigonocarpus as the seeds of Alethopteris (which is the most common fern found at St. Clair) - other sources give these the nickname "fossil pecans" because of their physical resemblance. 8a-8b and 9a - Cyclopteris - Fan Shaped Leaves - Some of the reference books show round fan shaped versions of some common ferns but this looks like something separate so we're going with Cyclopteris. We'll try to find a separate, more articulated sample on a future trip. 10 - Unidentified Fern. 11 - Assume this is Sphenopteris. 12 - Assume this is Neuropteris - Where Neuropteris sometimes has rounded leaves (??) 13 - Sphenophyllum - Including just for fun. I'll update the names in this list as the IDs are confirmed. One of our goals continues to be, finding scarce specimens we haven't come across yet, as well as articulated fossils, designs and larger pieces for display. As you can see, we're already making great headway identifying these. Thanks to everyone who helped us ID our finds in the past 2 months, and especially for helping with these...we're really surprised how many different species there are at this single site, all very close together.