1981/05/01 by Sara P. Stubblefield, Gar W. Rothwell · 3 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils #Plant Diversity and Evolution #Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
paper · doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1981.tb12394.x
openalex publication_date 1981/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
Permineralized lycopsid megagametophytes and embryos from Upper Carboniferous strata (Westphalian A) at Burnley, England have been found within isolated megaspores assignable to Setosisporites. The specimens illustrate for the first time the reproductive biology and embryogeny of a free‐sporing, bisporangiate, Paleozoic lycopod, and permit reinterpretation of the megagametophyte of Bothrodendrostrobus. Megagametophyte development is entirely endosporal. Embryogeny is comparable to that of the extant genus Isoetes , and is fundamentally different from that of the fossil lycopsid, Lepidocarpon—Lepidophloios. This further illustrates the diversity among Paleozoic lycopods and helps to clarify relationships among both fossil and extant lycopsid taxa.