Uskiella

Uskiella
Temporal range: Early Devonian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophyta
Genus: †Uskiella
Shute & D.Edwards 1989[1]
Species

†U. spargens Shute & D.Edwards 1989
†U. reticulata Fanning et al. 1992

Uskiella is a genus of small fossil plants of Early Devonian age (around 420 to 390 million years ago). The diagnostic characters are naked axes branching isotomously, terminating in ellipsoidal, vertically elongate flat sporangia which split longitudinally into two valves.[1] Spores of U. reticulata have a reticulate appearance.[2] Coalified specimens have been reported from Wales,[2] with a possible occurrence in Australia.[1]

The relationships of the genus are not clear because many anatomical details remain unknown. In 2004, Crane et al. published a cladogram for the polysporangiophytes in which Uskiella is basal to the lycophytes (clubmosses and relatives).[3]

tracheophytes

† Rhyniaceae (Huvenia, Rhynia, Stockmansella)

† basal groups (Aberlemnia caledonica [=Cooksonia caledonica], Cooksonia pertoni)

† basal groups (Cooksonia cambrensis, Renalia, Sartilmania, Uskiella, Yunia)

lycophytes

euphyllophytes




References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Shute, C.H. & Edwards, D. (1989), "A new rhyniopsid with novel sporangium organization from the Lower Devonian of Wales", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 100 (2): 111–137, doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1989.tb01713.x
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Fanning, U.; Edwards, D. & Richardson, J.B. (1992), "A diverse assemblage of early land plants from the Lower Devonian of the Welsh Borderland", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 109 (2): 161–188, doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1992.tb00264.x
  3. ↑ Crane, P.R.; Herendeen, P. & Friis, E.M. (2004), "Fossils and plant phylogeny", American Journal of Botany 91 (10): 1683–99, doi:10.3732/ajb.91.10.1683, PMID 21652317, retrieved 2011-01-27