Glossopteris

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Glossopteris
Temporal range: Permian
Glossopteris sp., seed ferns, Permian - Triassic - Houston Museum of Natural Science - DSC01765.JPG
Glossopteris sp.
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: †Pteridospermatophyta
Order: †Glossopteridales
Family: †Glossopteridaceae
Genus: †Glossopteris
Brongniart 1828 ex Brongniart 1831
Species
  • G. angustifolia
  • G. brasiliensis
  • G. browniana
  • G. communis
  • G. indica
  • G. occidentalis
Pangaea Glossopteris.jpg
Fossils of the gymnosperm Glossopteris (dark green) found in all of the southern continents provide strong evidence that the continents were once amalgamated into a supercontinent Gondwana

Glossopteris (Ancient Greek: γλώσσα glossa, meaning "tongue", because the leaves were tongue-shaped, and pteris, Greek for fern or feathery) is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct order of seed ferns known as Glossopteridales (also known as Arberiales or Ottokariales). The genus Glossopteris refers only to leaves, within a framework of form genera used in paleobotany. (For likely reproductive organs see Glossopteridaceae.) These are important because they indicate biological identity of these plants that were critical for recognizing former connections between the various fragments of Gondwana: South America, Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica.

History[edit]

The Glossopteridales arose in the Southern Hemisphere around the beginning of the Permian Period (298.9 million years ago),[1] but became extinct during the end-Permian mass extinction. Their distribution across several, now detached, landmasses led Eduard Suess, amongst others, to propose that the southern continents were once amalgamated into a single supercontinent—Pangea;[2] these plants went on to become the dominant elements of the southern flora through the rest of the Permian but disappeared in almost all places at the end of the Permian (251.902 million years ago).[3][4][5] The only convincing Triassic records are very earliest Triassic leaves from Nidpur, India,[6] but even these records are somewhat questionable owing to faulting and complex juxtapositioning of Permian and Triassic strata at Nidpur. Although most modern palaeobotany textbooks cite the continuation of glossopterids into later parts of the Triassic and, in some cases into the Jurassic, these ranges are erroneous and are based on misidentification of morphologically similar leaves such as Gontriglossa,[7] Sagenopteris, or Mexiglossa.[8] Glossopterids were, thus, one of the major casualties of the end-Permian mass extinction event.[9]

Distribution of four Permian and Triassic fossil groups used as biogeographic evidence for continental drift, and land bridging. Location of Glossopteris remains shown by blue crosses

More than 70 fossil species of this genus have been recognized in India alone,[10] with additional species from South America, Australia,[11][12] Africa, Madagascar[13] and Antarctica.[14][15] Essentially, Glossopteris was restricted to the middle- and high-latitude parts of Gondwana during the Permian[16] and was an important contributor to the vast Permian coal deposits of the Southern Hemisphere continents.[17] Most northern parts of South America and Africa lack Glossopteris and its associated organs. However, in recent years a few disparate localities in Morocco, Oman, Anatolia, the western part of the island of New Guinea, Thailand and Laos have yielded fossils that are of possible glossopterid affinity;[18] these peri-gondwanan records commonly occur together with Cathaysian or Euramerican plant species—the assemblages representing a zone of mixing between the strongly provincial floras of the Permian.[19] Apart from those in India and the peri-gondwanan localities, a few other fossils from the Northern Hemisphere have been assigned to this group, but these are not identified with great certainty. For example, specimens assigned to Glossopteris from the far east of Russia in the 1960s are more likely to be misdentifications of other gymnosperms such as Pursongia.[20] Confident assignment of fossil leaves to Glossopteris normally requires their co-preservation with the distinctive segmented roots of this group (called Vertebraria) or with the distinctive fertile organs.[21]

Taxonomy[edit]

Long considered a fern after its discovery in the 1820s,[22] it was later assigned to the gymnosperms; the genus is placed in the division Pteridospermatophyta. In reality, many of the plant groups included within this division are only distantly related to one another. Glossopterids' relationships with other groups remain obscure. Most recent phylogenetic analyses favour placement of glossopterids as sister to a large group including Corystospermales, Caytoniales, Bennettitales, Pentoxylales, Gnetales (in some analyses), and angiosperms.[23] A few analyses favour alternative links with Ginkgoales, Cordaitales and Pinales.

Glossopteris should strictly be used to refer to the distinctive spathulate fossil leaves with reticulate venation, however, the term has also been used to refer to the parent plant as a whole.[24]

Description[edit]

Glossopteris browniana fossil in the Artis zoo, Amsterdam.

Glossopteris was a woody, seed-bearing shrub or tree, some apparently reaching 30 meters tall, they had a softwood interior that resembles conifers of the family Araucariaceae.[25] Seeds were borne on one side of variably branched or fused structures,[26][27][28][29][30][31] and microsporangia containing pollen were borne in clusters at the tips of slender filaments.[32] Both the seed- and pollen-bearing organs were partially fused (adnate) to the leaves, or, in some cases, possibly positioned in the axils of leaves; the homologies of the flattened seed-bearing structures have remained particularly controversial with some arguing that the fertile organs represent megasporophylls (fertile leaves) whereas others have interpreted the structures as flattened, seed-bearing, axillary axes (cladodes). It is unclear whether glossopterids were monoecious or dioecious.

Paleoecology[edit]

They are interpreted to have grown in very wet soil conditions,[33][34] similar to the modern Bald Cypress; the leaves ranged from about 2 cm to over 30 cm in length.

The profile of glossopterid trees is largely speculative as complete trees have not been preserved. However, based on analogies with modern high-latitude plants Glossopteris trees probably tapered upwards like a Christmas tree and were relatively widely spaced to take advantage of the low-angle sunlight at high latitudes. Instead of needles, they had large, broad lance- or tongue-shaped leaves that fell to the ground at the end of summer; the fossil leaves are commonly found as dense accumulations representing autumnal leaf banks.[35][36] The broad fossilized growth rings in many Glossopteris woods reveal that the plants experienced strong growth spurts each spring-summer but underwent the abrupt cessation of growth before each following winter.[37]

Glossopteris leaves are morphologically simple so there are few characters that can be used to differentiate species.[38] Consequently, many past researchers have considered the Permian Glossopteris flora to be rather homogeneous with the same species distributed throughout the Southern Hemisphere. However, more recent studies of the more morphologically diverse fertile organs have shown that taxa had more restricted regional distributions and several intra-gondwanan floristic provinces are recognizable. Seeds, much too large to be wind-borne, could not have blown across thousands of miles of open sea, nor is it likely they have floated across vast oceans. Observations such as these led the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess to deduce that there had once been a land bridge between these areas, he named this large land mass Gondwanaland (named after the district in India where the plant Glossopteris was found). These same observations would also lend support to Alfred Wegener's Continental drift theory.

The first Antarctic specimens of Glossopteris were discovered by members of Robert Scott's doomed Terra Nova Expedition; the expedition members abandoned much of their gear in an effort to reduce their load, but kept 35 pounds of Glossopteris fossils; these were found alongside their bodies.[39]

Outcrops in Brazil[edit]

The first investigation of a Glossopteris flora associated with coal seams within a paleogeographic and palaeoclimatic context, in the Paraná Basin, southern Brazil, was that by geologist Israel Charles White in 1908; this allowed correlation between Gondwanan coal deposits in southern Brazil and those documented in South Africa, Australia, India and Antarctica, and showed that this flora flourished in latitudes near the south pole.

In Rio Grande do Sul, Glossopteris leaves were found in paleorrota at Mina Faxinal, in Arroio dos Ratos at Mina Morro do Papaléo in Mariana Pimentel and Quitéria in Pantano Grande. Various species were recovered from the Rio Bonito Formation at these sites including G. angustifolia, G. brasiliensis, G. browniana, G. communis, G. indica and G. occidentalis.[40]

References[edit]

  1. ^ McLoughlin, S (2012). "Glossopteris – insights into the architecture and relationships of an iconic Permian Gondwanan plant". Journal of the Botanical Society of Bengal. 65 (2): 1–14.
  2. ^ McLoughlin, S (2001). "The breakup history of Gondwana and its impact on pre-Cenozoic floristic provincialism". Australian Journal of Botany. 49 (3): 271–300. doi:10.1071/bt00023.
  3. ^ McLoughlin, S.; Lindström, S.; Drinnan, A.N. (1997). "Gondwanan floristic and sedimentological trends during the Permian-Triassic transition: new evidence from the Amery Group, northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica". Antarctic Science. 9 (3): 281–298. doi:10.1017/s0954102097000370.
  4. ^ Vajda, V.; McLoughlin, S. (2007). "Extinction and recovery patterns of the vegetation across the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary — a tool for unravelling the causes of the end-Permian mass-extinction". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 144 (1–2): 99–112. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2005.09.007.
  5. ^ Lindström, S.; McLoughlin, S. (2007). "Synchronous palynofloristic extinction and recovery after the end- Permian event in the Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica: implications for palynofloristic turnover across Gondwana". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 145 (1–2): 89–122. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2006.09.002.
  6. ^ Pant, D.D.; Pant, R. (1987). "Some Glossopteris leaves from Indian Triassic beds". Palaeontographica. 205B: 165–178.
  7. ^ Anderson, J. M. & Anderson, H. M., 1985. "Palaeoflora of southern Africa. Prodomus of southern African megafloras Devonian to Lower Cretaceous". A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam. 423 pp.
  8. ^ Delevoryas, T. & Person, C.P. 1975. "Mexiglossa varia gen. et sp. nov., a new genus of glossopteroid leaves from the Jurassic of Oaxaca, Mexico". Palaeontographica A 154, 114-120.
  9. ^ McLoughlin, S.; Lindström, S.; Drinnan, A.N. (1997). "Gondwanan floristic and sedimentological trends during the Permian-Triassic transition: new evidence from the Amery Group, northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica". Antarctic Science. 9 (3): 281–298. doi:10.1017/s0954102097000370.
  10. ^ Chandra, S. & Surange, K.R. 1979. "Revision of the Indian species of Glossopteris". Monograph 2. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow. 301 pp.
  11. ^ McLoughlin, S (1994). "Late Permian plant megafossils from the Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia: Part 2". Palaeontographica. 231B: 1–29.
  12. ^ McLoughlin, S. 1994. "Late Permian plant megafossils from the Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia: Part 3. Palaeontographica 231B: 31-62".
  13. ^ Appert, O (1977). "Die Glossopterisflora der Sakoa in südwest Madagaskar". Palaeontographica. 162B (1): 50.
  14. ^ Pigg, K. B. (1990). "Anatomically preserved Glossopteris foliage from the central Transantarctic Mountains". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 66 (1–2): 105–127. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(90)90030-m.
  15. ^ Trewick, Steve (2016). "Plate Tectonics in Biogeography". International Encyclopedia of Geography: People, the Earth, Environment and Technology. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 1–9. doi:10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0638. ISBN 9781118786352.
  16. ^ McLoughlin, S (2001). "The breakup history of Gondwana and its impact on pre-Cenozoic floristic provincialism". Australian Journal of Botany. 49 (3): 271–300. doi:10.1071/bt00023.
  17. ^ Holdgate G.R., McLoughlin, S., Drinnan A.N., Finkelman, R.B., Willett, J.C. & Chiehowsky, L.A., 2005." Inorganic chemistry, petrography and palaeobotany of Permian coals in the Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica". International Journal of Coal Geology 63: 156-177.
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  19. ^ Meyen, S.V., 1987. Fundamentals of palaeobotany Chapman and Hall, London. 432 pp.
  20. ^ Zimina, V.G. (1967). "On Glossopteris and Gangamopteris in Permian deposits of the Southern Maratime Territory". Paleontological Journal. 2: 98–106.
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  25. ^ Weaver, L.; McLoughlin, S.; Drinnan, A.N. (1997). "Fossil woods from the Upper Permian Bainmedart Coal Measures, northern Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica". AGSO Journal of Australian Geology and Geophysics. 16: 655–676.
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  30. ^ Prevec, R.; McLoughlin, S.; Bamford, M.K. (2008). "Novel wing morphology revealed in a South African ovuliferous glossopterid fructification". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 150 (1–4): 22–36. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2008.01.001.
  31. ^ McLoughlin, S (2012). "Two new Senotheca (Glossopteridales) species from the Sydney Basin, Australia, and a review of the genus". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 171: 140–151. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2011.12.004.
  32. ^ Lindström, S.; McLoughlin, S.; Drinnan, A (1997). "Intraspecific variation of taeniate bisaccate pollen within Permian glossopterid sporangia, from the Prince Charles Mountains, Antarctica". International Journal of Plant Sciences. 158 (5): 673–684. doi:10.1086/297479.
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  35. ^ McLoughlin, S (1993). "Plant fossil distributions in some Australian Permian non-marine sediments". Sedimentary Geology. 85 (1–4): 601–619. doi:10.1016/0037-0738(93)90104-d.
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  37. ^ , Ryberg, P.E., & Taylor, E.L., 2007. Silicified wood from the Permian and Triassic of Antarctica: Tree rings from polar paleolatitudes. In Antarctica: A Keystone in a changing world; proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences, A. K. Cooper, P. J. Barrett, H. Stagg, B. Storey, E. Stump, W. Wise, and the 10th ISAES editorial team [eds.], U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007-1047, Short Research Paper 080. National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., USA. doi:10.3133/of2007-1047.srp080
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Sources[edit]

  • Brongniart, A. 1828. Prodrome d’une histoire des végétaux fossiles. Paris. 223 pp.
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  • Davis, Paul and Kenrick, Paul. 2004. Fossil Plants. Smithsonian Books (in association with the Natural History Museum of London), Washington, D.C. ISBN 1-58834-156-9
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  • Pant, D.D. & Nautiyal, D.D. 1987. Diphyllopteris verticellata Srivastava, the probable seedling of Glossopteris from the Paleozoic of India. - Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 51: 31-36.
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  • Pigg, K. B. 1990. Anatomically preserved Glossopteris foliage from the central Transantarctic Mountains. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 66: 105-127.
  • Pigg, K.B.; McLoughlin, S. (1997). "Anatomically preserved Glossopteris leaves from the Bowen and Sydney basins, Australia". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 97 (3–4): 339–359. doi:10.1016/s0034-6667(97)00007-9.
  • Plumstead, E.P. (1969), Three thousand million years of plant life in Africa. Alex L. du Toit Memorial Lecture no. 11. Trans. Geol. Soc. S. Afr. 72 (annex.): 1-72.
  • Taylor, E.L, Taylor, T.N. & Collinson, J.W. 1989. Depositional setting and palaeobotany of Permian and Triassic permineralized peat from the central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. - Internat. J. Coal Geol., 12: 657-679.

External links[edit]

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