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The Phanerozoic Eon is the current geologic eon in the geologic time scale, and the one during which abundant animal and plant life has existed. It covers 541 million years to the present, and it began with the Cambrian Period when animals first developed hard shells preserved in the fossil record. The time before the Phanerozoic, called the Precambrian, is now divided into the Hadean, Archaean and Proterozoic eons.
Ginkgoales is a gymnosperm order containing only one extant species: Ginkgo biloba, the ginkgo tree. It is monotypic, within the class Ginkgoopsida, which itself is monotypic within the division Ginkgophyta. The order includes five families, of which only Ginkgoaceae remains extant.
Araucariaceae – also known as araucarians – is an extremely ancient family of coniferous trees. The family achieved its maximum diversity during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, when it was distributed almost worldwide. Most of the Araucariaceae in the Northern Hemisphere vanished in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, and they are now largely confined to the Southern Hemisphere, except for a few species of Agathis in Southeast Asia.
Glossopteris is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct Permian order of seed ferns known as Glossopteridales. The genus Glossopteris refers only to leaves, within a framework of form genera used in paleobotany. Species of Glossopteris were the dominant trees of the middle- to high-latitude lowland vegetation across the supercontinent Gondwana during the Permian Period. Glossopteris fossils were critical in recognizing former connections between the various fragments of Gondwana: South America, Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica.
Entomophily or insect pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen of plants, especially but not only of flowering plants, is distributed by insects. Flowers pollinated by insects typically advertise themselves with bright colours, sometimes with conspicuous patterns leading to rewards of pollen and nectar; they may also have an attractive scent which in some cases mimics insect pheromones. Insect pollinators such as bees have adaptations for their role, such as lapping or sucking mouthparts to take in nectar, and in some species also pollen baskets on their hind legs. This required the coevolution of insects and flowering plants in the development of pollination behaviour by the insects and pollination mechanisms by the flowers, benefiting both groups.
Hicksbeachia is a genus of two species of trees in the family Proteaceae. They are native to rainforests of northern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland. They are commonly known as red bopple nut or beef nut due to the bright red colour of their fruits.
Droseridites is a genus of extinct plants of possible droseracean or nepenthacean affinity. It is a form taxon known only from fossil pollen. Species assigned to this genus originate from numerous regions of the world, including Europe, India, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Kerguelen Islands.
Florissantia is an extinct genus of flowering plants in the Malvaceae subfamily Sterculioideae known from western North America and far eastern Asia. Flower, fruit, and pollen compression fossils have been found in formations ranging between the Early Eocene through to the Early Oligocene periods. The type species is Florissantia speirii and three additional species are known, Florissantia ashwillii, Florissantia quilchenensis, and Florissantia sikhote-alinensis.
Asiatosuchus is an extinct genus of crocodyloid crocodilians that lived in Eurasia during the Paleogene. Many Paleogene crocodilians from Europe and Asia have been attributed to Asiatosuchus since the genus was named in 1940. These species have a generalized crocodilian morphology typified by flat, triangular skulls. The feature that traditionally united these species under the genus Asiatosuchus is a broad connection or symphysis between the two halves of the lower jaw. Recent studies of the evolutionary relationships of early crocodilians along with closer examinations of the morphology of fossil specimens suggest that only the first named species of Asiatosuchus, A. grangeri from the Eocene of Mongolia, belongs in the genus. Most species are now regarded as nomina dubia or "dubious names", meaning that their type specimens lack the unique anatomical features necessary to justify their classification as distinct species. Other species such as "A." germanicus and "A." depressifrons are still considered valid species, but they do not form an evolutionary grouping with A. grangeri that would warrant them being placed together in the genus Asiatosuchus.
The Medullosales is an extinct order of pteridospermous seed plants characterised by large ovules with circular cross-section and a vascularised nucellus, complex pollen-organs, stems and rachides with a dissected stele, and frond-like leaves. Their nearest still-living relatives are the cycads.
Normapolles is an extinct angiosperm pollen group that arose in the Cenomanian. Normapolles persisted until the early Oligiocene Epoch but were reduced in diversity by the early Eocene Epoch. Normapolles were widespread in the Late Cretaceous of southern and eastern North America and Europe up to the West Siberian Plain between 56°N and 36°N, collectively referred to as the "Normapolles Province".
Cunninghamites elegans is an extinct conifer species in the family Cupressaceae and the genus Cunninghamites.
The Klondike Mountain Formation is an Early Eocene (Ypresian) geological formation located in the northeast central area of Washington state. The formation, named for the type location designated in 1962, Klondike Mountain north of Republic, Washington, is composed of volcanic rocks in the upper unit and volcanics plus lacustrine (lakebed) sedimentation in which a lagerstätte with exceptionally well-preserved plant and insect fossils has been found, along with fossil epithermal hot springs.
Mennegoxylon, commonly referred to as snakewood, is a genus of now extinct trees exhibiting a cell structure resembling snake skin when viewed in cross section. Mennegoxylon is found in the Eocene age Yegua Formation of Texas and Louisiana, USA. Specifically, many examples of snakewood have been found in College Station, Texas.
The Allenby formation is a sedimentary rock formation in British Columbia which was deposited during the Ypresian stage of the Early Eocene. It consists of conglomerates, sandstones with interbedded shales and coal. The shales contain an abundance of insect, fish and plant fossils known from 1877 and onward, while the Princeton Chert was first indented in the 1950's and is known from anatomically preserved plants.
Macginitiea is an extinct genus in the sycamore or plane tree family ranging from the Late Paleocene to Late Eocene of North America, prominently known from the Clarno Formation of central Oregon. The genus is strictly used to describe leaves, but has been found in close association with other fossil platanoid organs, which collectively have been used for whole plant reconstructions. Macginitiea and its associated organs are important as together they comprise one of the most well-documented and ubiquitous fossil plants, particularly in the Paleogene of North America.
Clathroctenocystis is an extinct monotypic genus of dinofagellates in the family Microdiniaceae. The type species, C. elegans, is from the Lower Cretaceous of Nelchina Limestone and Staniukovich formations of Southern Alaska, USA.
Circumpolles is a gymnosperm pollen type that is important in biostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. It characterizes the time between the middle Triassic to the middle Cretaceous Periods. This pollen has a unique morphology: it has a circular, equatorial colpus, which divides the pollen grain into two hemispheres. Circumpolles is also unique as it is the only gymnosperm with well developed nexinal columellae.
Betula leopoldae is an extinct species of birch in the family Betulaceae. The species is known from fossil leaves, catkins, and inflorescences found in the early Eocene deposits of northern Washington state, United States, and similar aged formations in British Columbia, Canada. The species is placed as basal in Betula, either as a stem group species, or an early divergent species.
Otozamites is an extinct form genus of leaves belonging to the Bennettitales.
References
- 1 2 Traverse (1988). Paleopalynology. Unwin Hyman. ISBN 978-0045610013. OCLC 17674795.
- ↑ Duck Keun Choi (December 1984). "A new eocene triprojectate pollen genus from the Canadian Arctic, Novemprojectus". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 43 (4): 337–341. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(84)90004-6. ISSN 0034-6667.
- ↑ Lehman, T. M., 2001, Late Cretaceous dinosaur provinciality: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, pp. 310-328.
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