A Late Devonian Isoetalean Lycopsid, Otzinachsonia Beerboweri, Gen. Et Sp. Nov., From North-Central Pennsylvania, USA

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Catskill Formation
cormose
Devonian
Famennian
isoetalean
lycopsid
Paleozoic
Plantae
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Cressler, Walter L
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Compressions and impressions of an isoetalean lycopsid, comprising lower portions of stems, lobed bases, attached rootlets, and rounded rootlet scars, discovered in Late Devonian (Famennian) rocks of Clinton County, north-central Pennsylvania, Appalachian Basin, USA, are here described as Otzinachsonia beerboweri, gen. et sp. nov. These specimens demonstrate unequivocally the existence of the isoetalean lobe-and-furrow rhizomorphic growth pattern as early as the Late Devonian. They were found in an Archaeopteris- and Rhacophyton-dominated flora at Red Hill, an outcrop of the Duncannon Member of the Catskill Formation. The fossils were found in a dark-gray to greenish-gray lenticular siltstone layer that has an average thickness of 1.0 m. This deposit is interpreted as a floodplain pond. The low-energy nature of the deposit and the fine preservation of the intact rootlets of the specimens imply little or no transport. The plants were probably growing along the edge of the floodplain pond with their lower portions submerged for at least part of the year.

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2005-07-01
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American Journal of Botany
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Reprinted from American Journal of Botany, Volume 92, Number 7, July 2005, pages 1131-1140.
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