The First Permineralized Microsporophyll of the Glossopteridales: Eretmonia macloughlinii sp. nov.
Issue Date
2012Author
Ryberg, Patricia Elizabeth
Taylor, Edith L.
Taylor, Thomas N.
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Type
Article
Article Version
Scholarly/refereed, publisher version
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Eretmonia du Toit is a microsporophyll genus attributed to the Permian Glossopteridales. Microsporophylls
are scale leaves (smaller leaves with morphology similar to that of Glossopteris leaves) that bear clusters of
sporangia at the end of stalks attached to the petiole of the sporophyll. Late Permian permineralized specimens
of Eretmonia from the central Transantarctic Mountains in Antarctica reveal the first anatomical information
of the genus. Numerous veins run the length of the petiole and alternate with large canals/air spaces; the veins
and canals are separated by increasing amounts of parenchyma. The ground tissue of the leaves is composed of
isodiametric parenchyma of varying diameters. Beneath the epidermis is a hypodermis two to three layers
thick. Pollen sac walls are a single layer thick with a tapered apex and bulbous base. The simplicity of the
bisaccate pollen grains does not suggest a specialized form of pollination but rather that the glossopterids were
wind pollinated.
Description
This is the publisher's version, which has been made available with permission of the publisher. The original version may be found at the following link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/666667
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Citation
Ryberg, P., Taylor, E., and Taylor, T. 2012 The First Permineralized Microsporophyll of the Glossopteridales: Eretmonia macloughlinii sp. nov. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 173(7): 812-822.
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