Primitive Archaeopteris Plant Fossil

A Fern-Like Tree from the Devonian

Archaeopteris sp

Division Tracheophytes, Class Progymnospermopsida (extinct), Order Progymnosperma (extinct), Archaeopteridacea

Geological Time: Upper Devonian

Size: Fossil is 115 mm by 65 mm on a 140 mm by 110 mm matrix

Fossil Site: Scaumenac Bay, Miguasha, Canada

Fossil Code: AW87

Price: Sold


Description: This is a frond on Archaeopteris, a tree-like plant with leaves like a fern. First named from a woody trunk named Callixylon over a hundred years ago based on material from Russia, it was thought to possibly be similar to fern-like leaves that were found nearby known as Archaeopteris. It took some 60 years to demonstrate that both were indeed from the same plant, and that plant bears characteristics found in no extant type. It was established as a taxon that was transitional between the true gymnosperms and the ferns. The reverse shows a number of additional plant fragments. See my other listings for an example of Callixylon which is one of the oldest types of wood known.

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