| Cyclodendron Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Lycophytes |
| Class: | Lycopodiopsida |
| Order: | † Lepidodendrales |
| Family: | † Lycopodiopsidaceae |
| Genus: | † Cyclodendron Kräusel, 1928 |
| Type species | |
| †Cyclodendron leslii Seward, 1903 | |
| Species | |
| |
Cyclodendron was a genus of lycophytes dating from the Permian. Plants were vascularized with reproduction by spores.
The type species, C. leslii, was originally described by Seward in 1903 under the name Bothrodendron leslii and based on specimens collected in Vereeniging, Atherstone Quarry and Port Alfred, South Africa. In 1928, Kräusel would reassign this species to his newly-erected genus Cyclodendron, to which he also assigned specimens from southwest Africa and Uganda. [1] Later authors would recognize more fossils from other Permian Gondwanan localities to belong to this species, including Australia (Reids Dome beds), India and Oman (Gharif Formation). [2] [3] [4]
In Brazil, the fossil of indefinite species of the genus Cyclodendron, was located on outcrop Morro Papaléo in the city of Mariana Pimentel. They are in the geopark Paleorrota in Rio Bonito Formation and date from Sakmarian at Permian. [5]
In 2012, C. golondrinensis was described from specimens collected in the Permian-aged La Golondrina Formation of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. It is named after the formation. [6]
The species C. andreisii was described in 2014 based on a series of sequentially decorticated stems. The fossil specimens were discovered in the upper Permian Yaguarí Formation of Uruguay. [7]
The Acrobatidae are a small family of gliding marsupials containing two genera, each with a single species, the feathertail glider from Australia and feather-tailed possum from New Guinea.
Neoceratodus is a genus of lungfish in the family Neoceratodontidae. The extant Australian lungfish is the only surviving member of this genus, but it was formerly much more widespread, being distributed throughout Africa, Australia, and South America. Species were also much more diverse in body plan; for example, the Cretaceous species Neoceratodus africanus was a gigantic species that coexisted with Spinosaurus in what is now the Kem Kem Formation of Morocco. The earliest fossils from this genus are of Neoceratodus potkooroki from the mid Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) Griman Creek Formation of Australia; remains from the Late Jurassic of Uruguay assigned to this genus probably do not belong to the genus.
Koolasuchus is an extinct genus of brachyopoid temnospondyl in the family Chigutisauridae. Fossils have been found from Victoria, Australia and date back 125-120 million years ago to Barremian-Aptian stages of the Early Cretaceous. Koolasuchus is the youngest known temnospondyl. It is known from several fragments of the skull and other bones such as vertebrae, ribs, and pectoral elements. The type species Koolasuchus cleelandi was named in 1997. K. cleelandi was adopted as the fossil emblem for the state of Victoria, Australia on 13 January 2022.
Phascolonus is an extinct genus of giant wombat known from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Australia. There is only a single species, Phascolonus gigas, the largest wombat ever known to have existed, estimated to weigh as much as 200 kg or 360 kg (790 lb). It was described by Richard Owen in 1859. Phascolomys magnus is a probable junior synonym. P. gigas is distinguished from other wombats by its strap-shaped upper incisors. The cranial roof is noticeably inwardly depressed. The species was abundant across Australia, with remains having been found in all states except Western Australia. It is suggested to have had a preference for arid and semi-arid inland habitats, with a diet consisting of a high amount of low quality vegetation. Though it likely had wide home-ranges, it probably did not stray far from fresh water sources. Abundant remains have been found in Pleistocene aged deposits from Lake Callabonna in South Australia. Unlike its living relatives, it is unlikely that Phascolonus engaged in burrowing. Phascolonus disappeared during the Late Pleistocene Quaternary extinction event around 50-40,000 years ago, together with many other large Australian animals, following the arrival of humans to the Australian continent. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that is closely related to the other giant wombat genera Ramsayia and Sedophascolomys.
The Winton Formation is a Cretaceous geological formation in central-western Queensland, Australia. It is late Albian to early Turonian in age. The formation blankets large areas of central-western Queensland. It consists of sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, siltstone and claystone. The sediments that make up these rocks represent the remnants of the river plains that filled the basin left by the Eromanga Sea - an inland sea that covered large parts of Queensland and central Australia at least four times during the Early Cretaceous. Great meandering rivers, forest pools and swamps, creeks, lakes and coastal estuaries all left behind different types of sediment.
Pecopteris is a very common form genus of leaves. Most Pecopteris leaves and fronds are associated with the marattialean tree fern Psaronius. However, Pecopteris-type foliage also is borne on several filicalean ferns, and at least one seed fern. Pecopteris first appeared in the Devonian period, but flourished in the Carboniferous, especially the Pennsylvanian. Plants bearing these leaves became extinct in the Permian period, due to swamps disappearing and temperatures on Earth dropping.
The Griman Creek Formation is a geological formation in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, Australia whose strata date back to the Albian-Cenomanian stages of the mid-Cretaceous. It is most notable being a major source of opal, found near the town of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales. Alongside the opal opalised fossils are also found, including those of dinosaurs and primitive monotremes.
Psilichthys is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish from Eumeralla Formation, the Lower Cretaceous epoch of what is now Victoria, Australia, known from single species P. selwyni. This is the first Mesozoic fossil vertebrate named from Victoria.
The Miria Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation, in Western Australia.
The Talbragar fossil site is a paleontological site of Late Jurassic (Tithonian) age in the central west of New South Wales, Australia. It lies about 30 kilometres (19 mi) north-east of the town of Gulgong, and 300 kilometres (190 mi) north-west of Sydney. The site has been known for over a century during which it has been extensively excavated to the point of near exhaustion. It is now registered as a Crown Land Reserve for the preservation of fossils; access is by permit, and the collection of rocks and fossil specimens is prohibited. The 4-hectare (9.9-acre) reserve is listed on the Register of the National Estate.
Samaropsis is a form genus named by Goeppert in 1864. Later Sewart (1917) redefined the taxon to refer only to the seeds.
Cordaicarpus is a form genus named by Geinitz (1862) and redefined by Seward (1917) to avoid confusion with another genus and to establish that the genus refers only seeds. Seward defined the differences between Cordaicarpus and Samaropsis.
Stephanophyllites is an extinct genus of plants that lived in the Permian.
Kawizophyllum is an extinct genus of plants that lived in the Permian.
Bruce Norman Runnegar is an Australian-born paleontologist and professor at UCLA. His research centers on using the fossil record to determine how, where, and when life originated and evolved. He has published on a wide variety of topics, including the phylogeny of molluscs, Dickinsonia fossils and oxygen levels, and molecular clock techniques.
The Peltaspermales are an extinct order of seed plants, often considered "seed ferns". They span from the Late Carboniferous to the Early Jurassic. It includes at least one valid family, Peltaspermaceae, which spans from the Permian to Early Jurassic, which is typified by a group of plants with Lepidopteris leaves, Antevsia pollen-organs, and Peltaspermum ovulate organs, though the family now also includes other genera like Peltaspermopsis, Meyenopteris and Scytophyllum Along with these, two informal groups of uncertain taxonomic affinities exist, each centered around a specific genus ; Supaia and Comia, known from the Early Permian of the Northern Hemisphere, especially of North America. Both the "Comioids" and the "Supaioids" are associated with the peltaspermacean ovulate organ Autunia. The Late Triassic-Middle Jurassic genus Pachydermophyllum may also have affinities to the peltasperms.
Dicroidium zuberi is a large bipinnate species of the seed fern Dicroidium with a forked rachis. The leaves are affiliated with Umkomasia feistmantellii megasporophylls and Petruchusbarrealensis microsporophylls.
The Tupuangi Formation is a geological formation in New Zealand, only exposed on Pitt Island in the Chatham Islands. It is the oldest exposed sedimentary unit within the archipelago. It was deposited in terrestrial deltaic to paralic conditions during the Cenomanian to Turonian ages of the Late Cretaceous. During this time period the Chatham Islands were attached to Antarctica within the Antarctic Circle, at approximately 70° to 80° south.
"Agathis" jurassica is an extinct coniferous tree found in the Talbragar Fish Beds of New South Wales. The beds were discovered in 1889 near the Farrs Hills in the Talbragar River valley. Specimens from the area were briefly examined by Australian palaeontologists upon discovery and published by R. Etheridge Jr. later that year. The initial classification identified Agathis jurassica as Podozamites lanceolatus. This name was upheld through further inspections by Walkom in 1921, but the species was reclassified as Agathis jurassica in 1981 by Mary White. In 1999, placement in Agathis was doubted, and the species has been referred to as Podozamites jurassica. The species is found predominantly in the Southern Hemisphere with marginal expanses into the Northern Hemisphere.
The Takatika Grit is a geologic formation in Chatham Islands, New Zealand. It preserves fossils dating back to the Paleocene period, although it also preserves disturbed and re-worked Maastrichtian and Campanian microfossils and tetrapod fossils. A 2017 study found that it dated to late Early to Mid Paleocene on the basis of dinoflagellates. It has been subdivided into two informal units, a lower phosphatic unit containing bones and nodular phosphatic layers, and an upper unit with abundant sponge remains and siliceous microfossils.
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