| Araucarites | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Gymnospermae |
| Division: | Pinophyta |
| Class: | Pinopsida |
| Order: | Araucariales |
| Family: | Araucariaceae |
| Genus: | † Araucarites Presl 1838 |
Araucarites is an extinct genus of conifer, used to refer to female conifer cones that resemble those of the family Araucariaceae. [1] Species assigned to the genus lived in the Permian to Eocene and have been found worldwide. [2] [3]
A number of species have been described in Araucarites.
The order Pinales in the division Pinophyta, class Pinopsida, comprises all the extant conifers. The distinguishing characteristic is the reproductive structure known as a cone produced by all Pinales. All of the extant conifers, such as Araucaria, cedar, celery-pine, cypress, fir, juniper, kauri, larch, pine, redwood, spruce, and yew, are included here. Some fossil conifers, however, belong to other distinct orders within the division Pinophyta.
Araucariaceae – also known as araucarians – is a family of coniferous trees, with three living genera, Araucaria, Agathis, and Wollemia. While the family was distributed globally during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, they are now largely confined to the Southern Hemisphere, except for a few species of Agathis in Southeast Asia.
Wollemia is a genus of coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae, endemic to Australia. It represents only one of three living genera in the family, alongside Araucaria and Agathis. The genus only has a single known species, Wollemia nobilis which was discovered in 1994 in a temperate rainforest wilderness area of the Wollemi National Park in New South Wales. It was growing in a remote series of narrow, steep-sided, sandstone gorges 150 km (93 mi) north-west of Sydney. The genus is named after the National Park.
Agathis, commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside Wollemia and Araucaria. Its leaves are much broader than most conifers. Kauri gum is commercially harvested from New Zealand kauri.
Sciadopityaceae, commonly called umbrella pines, is a family of conifers now endemic to Japan but in perhistoric times they could also be found in Europe and China. The sole living member of the family is Sciadopitys verticillata, while several several extinct genera are known from the fossil record. Wood suggested to belong to the family has been reported from the Jurassic of China, though the relationship of pre-Cretaceous fossils to Sciadopitys is ambiguous. Sciadopitys species are known from the Late Cretaceous of Japan before becoming widespread across Laurasia during most of the Cenozoic, especially in Europe until the Pliocene.
Glossopteris is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct Permian order of seed plants 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.
Welwitschiaceae is a family of plants of the order Gnetales with one living species, Welwitschia mirabilis, found in southwestern Africa. Three fossil genera have been recovered from the Crato Formation – late Aptian strata located in the Araripe Basin in northeastern Brazil, with one of these also being known from the early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) Akrabou Formation of Morocco.
The Hell Creek Formation is an intensively studied division of mostly Upper Cretaceous and some lower Paleocene rocks in North America, named for exposures studied along Hell Creek, near Jordan, Montana. The formation stretches over portions of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. In Montana, the Hell Creek Formation overlies the Fox Hills Formation. The site of Pompeys Pillar National Monument is a small isolated section of the Hell Creek Formation. In 1966, the Hell Creek Fossil Area was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.
Astrodon is a genus of large herbivorous sauropod dinosaur, measuring 20 m (66 ft) in length, 9 m (30 ft) in height and 20 metric tons in body mass. It lived in what is now the eastern United States during the Early Cretaceous period, and fossils have been found in the Arundel Formation, which has been dated through palynomorphs to the Albian about 112 to 110 million years ago.
Cheirolepidiaceae is an extinct family of conifers. They first appeared in the Triassic, and were widespread during most of the Mesozoic era. They are united by the possession of a distinctive pollen type assigned to the form genus Classopollis. The name Frenelopsidaceae or "frenelopsids" has been used for a group of Cheirolepidiaceae with jointed stems, thick internode cuticles, sheathing leaf bases and reduced free leaf tips. The leaf morphology has been noted as being similar to that of halophyte Salicornia. Several members of the family appear to have been adapted for semi-arid and coastal settings, with a high tolerance of saline conditions. Cheirolepidiaceae disappeared from most regions of the world during the Cenomanian-Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous, but reappeared in South America during the Maastrichtian, the final stage of the Cretaceous, increasing in abundance after the K-Pg extinction and being a prominent part of the regional flora during the Paleocene, before going extinct.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1923.
Araucaria mirabilis is an extinct species of coniferous tree from Patagonia, Argentina. It belongs to the genus Araucaria.
Araucarites sanctaecrucis is an extinct coniferous tree from Patagonia, Argentina. Its exact affinities are unknown and it is currently assigned to the form genus Araucarites of the family Araucariaceae. A. sanctaecrucis are known from petrified fossils of branches, foliage, and cones from the Cerro Cuadrado Petrified Forest.
Agathoxylon is a form genus of fossil wood, including massive tree trunks. Although identified from the late Palaeozoic to the end of the Mesozoic, Agathoxylon is common from the Carboniferous to Triassic. Agathoxylon represents the wood of multiple conifer groups, including both Araucariaceae and Cheirolepidiaceae, with late Paleozoic and Triassic forms possibly representing other conifers or other seed plant groups like "pteridosperms".
Brachyphyllum is a form genus of fossil coniferous plant foliage. Plants of the genus have been variously assigned to several different conifer groups including Araucariaceae and Cheirolepidiaceae. They are known from around the globe from the Late Carboniferous to the Late Cretaceous periods. B. sattlerae was named after the fictional palaebotanist Ellie Sattler from the Jurassic Park franchise.
This article records new taxa of plants that are scheduled to be described during the year 2017, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleobotany that are scheduled to occur in the year 2017.
This article records new taxa of plants that were described during the year 2014, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleobotany that occurred in the year 2014.
Podozamites is an extinct genus of fossil conifer leaves. In its broader sense, it has been used as a morphogenus to refer to any broad leaved multi-veined conifer leaves. Modern broad-leaved conifers with a similar form include Agathis in the family Araucariaceae and Nageia in Podocarpaceae, with some Podozamitessensu lato probably belonging to the same families.
This article records new taxa of fossil plants that are scheduled to be described during the year 2021, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleobotany that are scheduled to occur in the year 2021.
This paleobotany list records new fossil plant taxa that were to be described during the year 2023, as well as notes other significant paleobotany discoveries and events which occurred during 2023.
 | This article about a prehistoric conifer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |