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Mazon Creek fertile fern


Roby

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Below is the fertile fern found in pit 2 fall 2019.  It was identified by Fiddlehead early this December as being Crenulopteris mazoniana.  The significance being the rarity of fertile ferns in the Mazonia fossil flora.  Hope to gain more information on this specimen in the new Flora book once publish.

5e1250e70dc5d_CrenulopterismazonianafernFertiletop.thumb.JPG.cffffdcc9f9743dd9c257571cc91099c.JPG5e1250d9c437f_CrenulopterismazonianafernFertilebottom.thumb.JPG.88f4a9a98b064c1c4509be4d9fe785d7.JPG

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Awesome fossil!

 

 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Moved to MEMBER COLLECTIONS.

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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That is indeed a rare and significant find, and even better it is quite beautiful too. 

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18 hours ago, RuMert said:

I see it has scientific significance. But what exactly is a fertile fern? Can ferns be infertile? Sorry for the dumb question

With the spores around the leaves, in white ?

 

Coco

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----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

Badges-IPFOTH.jpg.f4a8635cda47a3cc506743a8aabce700.jpg Badges-MOTM.jpg.461001e1a9db5dc29ca1c07a041a1a86.jpg

 

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18 hours ago, RuMert said:

I see it has scientific significance. But what exactly is a fertile fern? Can ferns be infertile? Sorry for the dumb question

Here is a good website discussing the structure of ferns in some detail: https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/beauty/ferns/structure.shtml , but the short answer is that the terms are referring to two parts of the same plant- on some ferns only the fertile fronds contain the spore cases (sporangia) for reproduction- those white structures lining the edge of the leaf that this post is about, while most fronds are infertile. I am certain @fiddlehead could give a much more in-depth answer as well. 

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Mazonia had two types of ferns, true ferns like today and seed ferns.  Seed ferns went south with the Permian extinction.  True ferns diversified resulting in different locations of spore placement.  The thing I don't know is this a seed fern, I believe it is not since true ferns of that time had the spores on the under side of the leaves.  Please note the books I have are no longer up-to-date with the times.  Today is when most of the results of Mazonia flora research is coming to fruition.  I'm no longer able to keep up name changes.

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