Pallaviciniites

Pallaviciniites
Temporal range: Frasnian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Marchantiophyta
Class: Jungermanniopsida
Order: Metzgeriales
Genus: †Pallaviciniites
Schuster 1966 (Hueber, 1961)
Binomial name
Pallaviciniites devonicus
Schuster 1966 (Hueber, 1961)
Synonyms
  • Hepaticites Hueber 1961[1]

The lowermost Upper Devonian fossil Pallaviciniites was for a time the oldest known liverwort until Metzgeriothallus was recovered from earlier Devonian strata.[2]

It had a central axis, and bifurcated at its tips; similar fossils have been found in younger strata through to the Pleistocene.[3] With the exception of its elongated axial conducting (non-vascular) cells, the thallus was a single cell thick.[4] It had a serrated margin.[1]

Prior to its discovery, the oldest known liverworts dated to the Lower Carboniferous.[3]

  1. ^ a b Hueber, F. M. (1961). "Hepaticites devonicus, a New Fossil Liverwort from the Devonian of New York". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 48 (2): 125–131. doi:10.2307/2394879. JSTOR 2394879.  edit
  2. ^ Hernick, L.; Landing, E.; Bartowski, K. (2008). "Earth's oldest liverworts—Metzgeriothallus sharonae sp. Nov. From the Middle Devonian (Givetian) of eastern New York, USA". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 148: 154. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2007.09.002.  edit
  3. ^ a b Chopra, R. N (1998). Topics in bryology. ISBN 9788170238119. http://books.google.com/?id=jEtVg4jTmq0C&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=Pallaviciniites&f=false. 
  4. ^ Banks, H. (1975). "The oldest vascular land plants: A note of caution". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 20: 13–69. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(75)90004-4.  edit