| Nuphaea | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Order: | Nymphaeales |
| Family: | Nymphaeaceae |
| Genus: | † Nuphaea Gee et David W. Taylor [1] |
| Species: | †N. engelhardtii |
| Binomial name | |
| †Nuphaea engelhardtii Gee et David W. Taylor [1] | |
Nuphaea engelhardtii was a species of aquatic plant, which occurred in the Eocene period of Germany. [1]
Nuphaea engelhardtii was an aquatic plant with petiolate, macrophyllous, simple, ovate leaves with an entire margin. The base of the lamina is cordate. The leaves have a prominent medial vein. [1]
It was published by Carole T. Gee and David Winship Taylor in 2019. [1]
The type specimen was collected by Hermann Engelhardt in the Messel Pit, Hessen, Germany. [1]
It is placed within the family Nymphaeaceae. [2] [1]
The generic name Nuphaea reflects the intermediate position of the genus between the genera Nuphar and Nymphaea . The specific epithet engelhardtii honours the German paleobotanist Hermann Engelhardt (1839–1918). [1]
It grew at the edges of the Messel lake. [3]
The Nymphaeales are an order of flowering plants, consisting of three families of aquatic plants, the Hydatellaceae, the Cabombaceae, and the Nymphaeaceae. It is one of the three orders of basal angiosperms, an early-diverging grade of flowering plants. At least 10 morphological characters unite the Nymphaeales. One of the traits is the absence of a vascular cambium, which is required to produce both xylem (wood) and phloem, which therefore are missing. Molecular synapomorphies are also known.
Nymphaeaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly called water lilies. They live as rhizomatous aquatic herbs in temperate and tropical climates around the world. The family contains five genera with about 70 known species. Water lilies are rooted in soil in bodies of water, with leaves and flowers floating on or emergent from the surface. Leaves are round, with a radial notch in Nymphaea and Nuphar, but fully circular in Victoria and Euryale.
Ceratophyllaceae is a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants including one living genus commonly found in ponds, marshes, and quiet streams in tropical and in temperate regions. It is the only extant family in the order Ceratophyllales. Species are commonly called coontails or hornworts, although hornwort is also used for unrelated plants of the division Anthocerotophyta.
Leptictidium is an extinct genus of small mammals that were likely bipedal. Comprising eight species, they resembled today's bilbies, bandicoots, and elephant shrews. They are especially interesting for their combination of characteristics typical of primitive eutherians with highly specialized adaptations, such as powerful hind legs and a long tail which aided in locomotion. They were omnivorous, their diet a combination of insects, lizards and small mammals. Leptictidium and other leptictids are not placentals, but are non-placental eutherians, although closely related. They appeared in the Lower Eocene, a time of warm temperatures and high humidity, roughly fifty million years ago. Although they were widespread throughout Europe, they became extinct around thirty-five million years ago with no descendants, probably because they were adapted to live in forest ecosystems and were unable to adapt to the open plains of the Oligocene.
Nelumbo is a genus of aquatic plants with large, showy flowers. Members are commonly called lotus, though the name is also applied to various other plants and plant groups, including the unrelated genus Lotus. Members outwardly resemble those in the family Nymphaeaceae, but Nelumbo is actually very distant from that family.
The Messel pit is a disused quarry near the village of Messel about 35 km (22 mi) southeast of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Bituminous shale was mined there. Because of its abundance of well-preserved fossils dating from the middle of the Eocene, it has significant geological and scientific importance. Over 1000 species of plants and animals have been found at the site. After almost becoming a landfill, strong local resistance eventually stopped these plans and the Messel pit was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 9 December 1995. Significant scientific discoveries about the early evolution of mammals and birds are still being made at the Messel pit, and the site has increasingly become a tourist site as well.
Nuphar is a genus of aquatic plants in the family Nymphaeaceae, with a temperate to subarctic Northern Hemisphere distribution. Common names include water-lily, pond-lily, alligator-bonnet or bonnet lily, and spatterdock.
Cephalotaxus, commonly called plum yew or cowtail pine, is a genus of conifers comprising 11 species, either considered the only member of the family Cephalotaxaceae, or in the Taxaceae when that family is considered in a broad sense. The genus is endemic to eastern Asia, though fossil evidence shows it had a wider Northern Hemisphere distribution in the past. The species are evergreen shrubs and small trees reaching 1.0–10 metres (3–33 ft) tall.
The Cabombaceae are a family of aquatic, herbaceous flowering plants. A common name for its species is water shield. The family is recognised as distinct in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group IV system (2016). The family consists of two genera of aquatic plants, Brasenia and Cabomba, totalling six species.
Palaeochiropteryx is an extinct genus of bat from the Middle Eocene of Europe and North America. It contains three very similar species – Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon and Palaeochiropteryx spiegeli, both from the famous Messel Pit of Germany, as well as Palaeochiropteryx sambuceus from the Sheep Pass Formation. They are usually found complete and exceptionally preserved, even retaining the outlines of their fur, ears, and wing membranes.
Diplocynodon is an extinct genus of alligatoroid crocodilian that lived during the Paleocene to Middle Miocene in Europe. Some species may have reached lengths of 3 metres (9.8 ft), while others probably did not exceed 1 metre (3.3 ft). They are almost exclusively found in freshwater environments. The various species are thought to have been opportunistic aquatic predators.
Bergisuchus is an extinct genus of small sebecosuchian mesoeucrocodylian known primarily from the Eocene Messel Pit in Germany. Few fossils of Bergisuchus have been discovered, only a single incomplete snout, a few partial lower jaws and some teeth. Despite being fragmentary, the jaw bones are enough to indicate that Bergisuchus had a short, deep, narrow snout and serrated teeth, quite unlike the broad flat snouts of modern crocodylians.
Macrocranion is a genus of extinct mammal from the Eocene epoch of Europe and North America. Exceptional fossils have has been found in the Messel Pit of Germany. Macrocranion species are often described as forest-floor predators, about the size of small squirrels but with longer limbs. The genus is represented at the Messel Pit site by two species, M. tupaidon and M. tenerum.
Aneuretellus is an extinct genus of ant in the formicid subfamily Aneuretinae, and is one of eight genera of the subfamily. The genus contains a single described species Aneuretellus deformis and is known from one Middle Eocene fossil which was found in Sakhalin in the Russian Far East.
This article records new taxa of fossil plants that are scheduled to be described during the year 2019, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleobotany that are scheduled to occur in the year 2019.
This list of 2013 in paleobotany records new fossil plant taxa that were described during 2013, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleobotany that occurred in the year.
The paleoflora of the Eocene Okanagan Highlands includes all plant and fungi fossils preserved in the Eocene Okanagan Highlands Lagerstätten. The highlands are a series of Early Eocene geological formations which span an 1,000 km (620 mi) transect of British Columbia, Canada and Washington state, United States and are known for the diverse and detailed plant fossils which represent an upland temperate ecosystem immediately after the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum, and before the increased cooling of the middle and late Eocene to Oligocene. The fossiliferous deposits of the region were noted as early as 1873, with small amounts of systematic work happening in the 1880-90s on British Columbian sites, and 1920-30s for Washington sites. A returned focus and more detailed descriptive work on the Okanagan Highlands sites revived in the 1970's. The noted richness of agricultural plant families in Republic and Princeton floras resulted in the term "Eocene orchards" being used for the paleofloras.
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 is an overview of the paleofauna of the Eocene Messel Formation as explored by the Messel Pit excavations in Germany. A former quarry and now UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Messel Formation preserves what once were a series of anoxic lakes surrounded by a sub-tropical rainforest during the Middle Eocene, approximately 47 Ma.
This is an overview of the paleoflora of the Eocene Messel Formation as explored by the Messel Pit excavations in Germany. A former quarry and UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Messel Formation preserves what once were a series of lakes surrounded by sub-tropical rainforest during the Middle Eocene, approximately 47 Ma.