Late Devonian plant

[matgerke]

Can any of the paleobotanists out there help me to identify this Late Devonian plant?  Found it in the Catskill formation, North of Harrisburg, PA.  I love the preservation and the coloration, but I don't know what I'm looking at!

Correction: I first posted that this was "Middle Devonian".  On second look, the Catskill formation is "Late Devonian".  My bad.

Edited September 2, 2017 by matgerke
Correction

[hauyn888]

sorry I don´t know what it is but....nice find, well done congratulation - did you find only this piece?

Try this - http://l-koch.de/texte/text_mitteldevon.html

Edited September 2, 2017 by hauyn888
found a link

[Malcolmt]

I don't know what it is but it sure is a keeper. Perhaps @fossilcrazy will know he is quite knowledgeable on these types of things.

 

 

[abyssunder]

I think it resembles Duodimidia pfefferkornii .

 

comparative picture from here

[fossilcrazy]

Hi Matgerke, You have a nice example of a rarer form of Archaeopteris - A. macilenta. The diagnostic feature is the frayed edges of the leaflet. 

I submitted the same thing as May 2017 trying for IPFOTM.    

[westcoast]

Congrats on a really nice find.

[Sagebrush Steve]

OK, so now we have two different identifications for this specimen, Duodimidia pfefferkornii and an Archaeopteris species.  Can we try to zero in on the correct ID?  I did some quick research and found a couple of papers that could help.  Both species are found in Pennsylvania but Archaeopteris is apparently more common.  According to the first paper below, it serves as an index fossil for the Late Devonian.  But my impression is the photo of this specimen more closely resembles D. pfefferkornii.  The second paper below gives a description on page 97.  I'm not knowledgeable enough to make a determination myself, what do the experts think?

 

Paper 1: Devonian Red Hill PA.pdf

Paper 2: Devonian Red Hill PA-2.pdf

[Sagebrush Steve]

1 hour ago, abyssunder said:

I think it resembles Duodimidia pfefferkornii .

 

comparative picture from here

Abbysunder's referenced paper above is another good one.

[Miocene_Mason]

You have managed to find fossils in the catskill formation, which is a great accomplishment indeed! It's a very nice one too, most are little bits of coal but you found a nicely preserved piece! Nice find!

[matgerke]

Thanks for all of these helpful ideas!

 

The one thing that makes me lean towards the Archaeopteris is that there is a thin, strongly visible stem that all the leaves branch from.  The Duodimidia seems to have a "fluffier" looking stem.  But of course, I'll wait for the experts on this one.

 

To answer @hauyn888 's question, this was pretty much the only thing I found, but I only spent maybe 20 minutes.  I was poking around in the scree of a road cut, and I found this and a couple of unimpressive brachiopods.  As this was in the height of summer, there were a whole lot of plants in the way.  I may go back in the spring before the plants take over.

 

Thanks again for all the assistance, everyone.

[GeschWhat]

Beautiful!

[doushantuo]

 

 

 

or even:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[doushantuo]

or:

[matgerke]

@doushantuo: I am a little confused.  How am I to interpret these pages?

 

Paleobotanists generally: what is the consensus identification?

[doushantuo]

All are freely available on the web for consultation (as is the Guo & Wang,below).

a quotation from the Guo & Wang:

I keep repeating myself: Paleozoic plants need the help of ultrastructural detail for a correct determination

[sTamprockcoin]

Just for the heck of it, because of the unique coloration (from mineralization I assume), and because of some other catskill plant fossils localities being slightly unranium enriched it it might be fun to find someone with a geiger counter to scan this. It might not hurt to find a pdf of the Pa geologic Survey Report "Uranium Occurrences in PA" and see if your spot is reported or there is one nearby. I found some neat plant imprints with malachite coatings up river from you also in the Catskill Formation contact zone. PM me if you want the specific locality info. Nice find!!   

[doushantuo]

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