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Mesozoic Fossil Plants


paleoflor

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Really liking all the material posted in the Carboniferous plant fossil topic, I started wondering about the Mesozoic treasures collected. Please show your Mesozoic plant fossils (the stuff dinosaurs ate, haha)! I'll kick-off by showing some of my Gondwana material from the Nymboida Coal Measures (Triassic of NSW, Australia).

post-2676-12688564147082_thumb.jpg post-2676-12688564565563_thumb.jpg post-2676-1268856984313_thumb.jpg post-2676-12688564688708_thumb.jpg post-2676-12688564960247_thumb.jpg

(1) Cladophlebis gondwanica Frenguelli, 1947

(2) Dicroidium cf. odontopteroides var. remotum (Szajnocha) Retallack, 1977

(3) Dicroidium sp.?

(4) Sphenobaiera argentinae (Kurtz) Frenguelli, 1946

(5) Dicroidium zuberi Retallack, 1977

Edited by paleoflor

Searching for green in the dark grey.

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This is a pair of Cretaceous aged palm fronds from the Lance Formation of Wyoming. They were found last year by a friend of mine. I purchased the fossil and am having them prepared. I should be picking the piece up next week.

I have seen a lot of Eocene aged Green River fronds but this is the first Cretaceous aged frond that i have seen.

post-1202-12688762816238_thumb.jpg

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Paleoflor..... I have ony one example.... I had climbed down a fishermans rope down a pretty steep cliff looking for ammonites in North Yorkshire and a chunk of sandstone like rock caught my eye with a series of evenly spaced dots in a line along one edge.... I just gave it a 'whack' with the hammer and I discovered this.... I did some prep on it to emphasize what I think are worm borrows and preserved stem and just to tidy it up....

Zamites gigas -Staithes Sandstone Formation - North Yorkshire

post-1630-12689284855686_thumb.jpg

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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Good thread; keep 'em comin'! :wub:

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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Really liking all the material posted in the Carboniferous plant fossil topic, I started wondering about the Mesozoic treasures collected. Please show your Mesozoic plant fossils (the stuff dinosaurs ate, haha)! I'll kick-off by showing some of my Gondwana material from the Nymboida Coal Measures (Triassic of NSW, Australia).

post-2676-12688564147082_thumb.jpg post-2676-12688564565563_thumb.jpg post-2676-1268856984313_thumb.jpg post-2676-12688564688708_thumb.jpg post-2676-12688564960247_thumb.jpg

(1) Cladophlebis gondwanica Frenguelli, 1947

(2) Dicroidium cf. odontopteroides var. remotum (Szajnocha) Retallack, 1977

(3) Dicroidium sp.?

(4) Sphenobaiera argentinae (Kurtz) Frenguelli, 1946

(5) Dicroidium zuberi Retallack, 1977

Good preservation specimens, thanks for sharing. Unfortunately I've got fossils only from Devonian to Permian.

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@ RCfossils: Wow! What a beautiful specimen, just amazing. I've seen some plants from the Lance (Creek) Fm. before, but never at this scale. Please share a photo of the preparation result with us!

Plant material of Cretaceous age is rather rare here in Europe. The only specimen I own is the Tempskya sp. specimen figured below. These treeferns are rather extraordinary plants though (see for example this reference)

post-2676-12690129776755_thumb.jpg

Tempskya sp. (Cretaceous)

@ Terry Dactyll: Nice Zamites gigas specimen! Well worth the daredevil actions on the cliff-face in my opinion (though you might have preferred finding an ammonite, haha). I'm still planing to one day go collect in North Yorkshire. After all, it is a classic location for fossil plants of Jurassic age. What size is your specimen? Zamites gigas (as the name suggests) can grow large fronds.

Just for fun, I've added another Zamites specimen here.

post-2676-12690129840248_thumb.jpg

Zamites feneonis (Pomel, 1849) Ettingshausen, 1852 (Jurassic)

@ RomanK: Then please share your Devonian-Permian material, either here or in a new topic; plants of all ages are great!

Edited by paleoflor

Searching for green in the dark grey.

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Paleoflor.....The length of the frond ignoring the preserved stem at the top is 9"... so not 'too' big...

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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Gentleman, really enjoyed the views...especially like the Zamites and Dicroidium specimens! Paleoflor, I didnt realize that Tempskya was also found in the U.S. Interesting link.

My collection is lacking any specimens this age at present----I've tried to snag a few off ebay but the bidding has been pretty fierce and I've been cheap!!! The only one specimen I have collected personally was a small unidentified Cretaceous Cycad leaflet from the Great Valley Sequence in Napa, California that is now in the collections in the Napa Valley Museum in Yountville, California.

Again, enjoyed the thread, I wish I could contribute some photos..Regards, Chris

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Hi all,

Thanks for sharing the nice pictures so far! Hopefully there will be more beautiful pieces lurking in your cabinets; I'd certainly like to see more! Unfortunately I'm running out of Mesozoic material to show myself after this... Hope you'll enjoy though!

Triassic:

The fossils found at Nymboida (NSW, Australia) represent a Dicroidium-flora, typical for the Middle Triassic (Anisian-Ladnian) of Gondwana. These specimens come from the Farquhars Coal Seam, part of the Basin Creek Fm. The first photo shows the dichotomous division of the frond, characteristic for this morphogenus (compare with schematic from Retallack, 1977):

post-2676-12692639524688_thumb.jpg post-2676-12692636677232_thumb.jpg post-2676-1269263679098_thumb.jpg

Reconstruction of complete frond (after Retallack, 1977) and 2 Dicroidium sp. photos.

Jurassic:

First some specimens from the Talbragar Fish Beds flora. The site is located northeast of Gulgong (NSW, Australia) and is registered as Crown Land Reserve. The shales and siltstones (Purlawaugh Fm.) represent a Jurassic freshwater lake situated at high latitude within the Gondwanan landmass. 16 plant species are represented from this site. Note: specimens were collected in the 1980s, the area is protected and collection is illegal nowadays.

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Elatocladus planus (Seward) Gould, 1980 & Agathis jurassica White, 1981

Some more Jurassic plant fossils:

post-2676-12692636915473_thumb.jpg post-2676-12692637037389_thumb.jpg post-2676-12692637149144_thumb.jpg

(1) Ginkgo huttoni (Sternberg) Heer, 1876 (Yorkshire, Great Britain)

(2) Otozamites feistmanteli Zigno, 1881 (Duraki, Australia)

(3) Brachyphyllum nepos Jung, 1974 (Mörnsheim, Germany)

Searching for green in the dark grey.

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Not sure if this is from the Mesozoic era but here is a Ginko Leaf from B.C. Canada.... one of the few plant fossils in my collection....

post-2446-12692982106529_thumb.jpg

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Not sure if this is from the Mesozoic era but here is a Ginko Leaf from B.C. Canada.... one of the few plant fossils in my collection....

Nice fossil! Never seen such a division in three lobes before. The only (famous) plant-fossil site I know from British Columbia is the McAbee flora. Don't know whether your specimen also comes from this flora (locality near Cache Creek), but it is Early Middle Eocene in age, and features two species of Ginkgo (G. dissecta and G. biloba). However, neither of these species has a description corresponding to the specimen you show here. Maybe you might be interested to take a look here. Not complete without the original articles (e.g. refs below) but still a good resource. Anyhow, really beautiful Ginkgo specimen!

Refs:

(1) The McAbee flora of British Columbia and its relation to the Early–Middle Eocene Okanagan Highlands flora of the Pacific Northwest by Richard M. Dillhoff, Estella B. Leopold, & Steven R. Manchester, 2004

(2) Ulmus leaves and fruits from the Early–Middle Eocene of northwestern North America: systematics and implications for character evolution within Ulmaceae byThomas Denk & Richard M. Dillhoff, 2006

Searching for green in the dark grey.

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Thanks very much for the information and links and references paleoflor! as I am not that familiar with fossil plant material.

Best Regards,

Peter

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Not sure if this is from the Mesozoic era but here is a Ginko Leaf from B.C. Canada.... one of the few plant fossils in my collection....

Nope that is a Cenozoic leaf of Ginkgo from the Lower Middle Eocene of probably the Tranquille Shale (popularly known as the McAbee Fossil Beds). Could be from any of the numerous Eocene Okanagan Highlands sites located throughout British Columbia but again most likely from the McAbee site. The leaf morphology is not common to my knowledge but may be an early shoot of Ginkgo dissecta.

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  • 2 months later...

An old blind squirrel did finally acquire a "Mesozoic acorn"--I mean an early Ginkgo sp. from the Lower Cretaceous, Baikal/Russia.

post-1240-026160500 1276483207_thumb.jpg

Regards, Chris

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Chris..... Very nice specimen, dont bury it for winter, enjoy it now..... :)

Cheers Steve... And Welcome if your a New Member... :)

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...an early Ginkgo sp. from the Lower Cretaceous, Baikal/Russia. Regards, Chris

Fine detail and amazing relief; great fossil! :wub:

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Chris,

Congrats with your purchase! It is a nice Ginkgo leaf indeed! :)

This is a pair of Cretaceous aged palm fronds from the Lance Formation of Wyoming. They were found last year by a friend of mine. I purchased the fossil and am having them prepared. I should be picking the piece up next week.

I have seen a lot of Eocene aged Green River fronds but this is the first Cretaceous aged frond that i have seen.

How did it turn out to be? I'm actually quite curious to see the preparation result! Please share some photos ;)

Best regards,

Tim

Searching for green in the dark grey.

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Hi.

There's some great stuff here. Since I'm a middle Mesozoic man, I've got a few things too which I can post. I already posted some Ginkgos from Whitby here:

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php/topic/13825-the-area-around-whitby-yorkshire-uk/

And here's the rest.

post-2384-085278500 1278431998_thumb.jpg

Credneria acuminata. Upper Cretacious. Blankenburg, Germany.

post-2384-052349800 1278432117_thumb.jpg

I still don't know from which tree this branch might originate. I found it on a field by Geisingen, Germany. Bajocian, Middle Jurassic. Anybody have an idea?

Now 2 sides of one find. Also a branch which I can't identify.

post-2384-015998600 1278432388_thumb.jpg

Upper Bajocian, Dogger gamma, Middle Jurassic. Sengenthal, Germany.

post-2384-039403100 1278432483_thumb.jpg

Calcite innards. Cut & polished.

Best wishes, Roger.

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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  • 10 months later...

hello,

Here a Pachypteris sp from the upper Jurassic, upper kimmeridgian from the right side of the river "Rhône", close to the south french Jura in France in the "bituminous limestones"

length : 16 cm long

post-5175-0-65483800-1305232922_thumb.jpg

Edited by Dromiopsis
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  • 4 weeks later...

hello,

Here a Pachypteris sp from the upper Jurassic, upper kimmeridgian from the right side of the river "Rhône", close to the south french Jura in France in the "bituminous limestones"

length : 16 cm long

Absolutely stunning specimen! Are these "bituninous limestones" full of plant fossils or are they rather rare occurrences? Do you have more specimens? I'd really like to see more on this!

Searching for green in the dark grey.

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my Equisetites from triassic Connecticut.

Interesting! What kind of environment was Connecticut during the Triassic?

Searching for green in the dark grey.

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Interesting! What kind of environment was Connecticut during the Triassic?

Maybe this will be useful: My link

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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