Wattieza

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Wattieza
Temporal range: Middle Devonian
W. givetiana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
Division:
Pteridophyta
Class:
†Cladoxylopsida
Order:
†Pseudosporochnales
Genus:
Wattieza

Species
  • W. givetiana Stockmans
  • W. casasii Berry
W. casasii

Wattieza was a

cladoxylopsids, close relatives of the modern ferns and horsetails. The 2005 (publicly revealed in 2007) discovery in Schoharie County, New York, of fossils from the Middle Devonian about 385 million years ago united the crown of Wattieza to a root and trunk known since 1870. The fossilized grove of "Gilboa stumps" discovered at Gilboa, New York, were described as Eospermatopteris, though the complete plant remained unknown. These fossils have been described as the earliest known trees, standing 8 m (26 ft) or more tall, resembling the unrelated modern tree fern.[1]

Wattieza had

leaves,[2] and they reproduced with spores.[1]

Belgian paleobotanist

London-Brabant Massif in Belgium.[3]

English geologist and palaeobotanist Chris Berry described Wattieza casasii in Review of Paleobotany and Palynology (112) in 2000, based on fossil branches (13 slabs) and numerous other fragments (Berry, 2000) collected from middle Givetian-strata from the lower member of Campo Chico Formation (Casas et al, 2022). The lithology of the lower member consists in dark grey to green mudstones and shales, interbedded with medium-coarse grained sandstones close to the base of the Campo Chico Formation, in outcrops of the road to the Rio Socuy (Casas et al, 2022; pag 24), close to Cano Colorado river, Perija Range, Zulia state Venezuela (Casas et al, 2022). The fossil material of Wattieza casasii is currently in the National Museum and Gallery, Cardiff, Wales and the Palaeontological section, Museo de Biologia, Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela (Berry, 2000; pag. 127). The name of the species Wattieza casasii was assigned in honor of Jhonny Casas, one of the discoverers of the original material (Berry, 2000; pag. 144).[4][5]


Trunk fragment

References

  1. ^ a b Stein, W. E., F. Mannolini, L. V. Hernick, E. Landling, and C. M. Berry. 2007. "Giant cladoxylopsid trees resolve the enigma of the Earth's earliest forest stumps at Gilboa", Nature (19 April 2007) 446:904-907.
  2. S2CID 4324196
    .
  3. ^ Berry, Chris (2009). "The Middle Devonian plant collections of Francois Stockmans reconsidered". Geologica Belgica. 12 (1–2): 25–30.
  4. PMID 11042329
    .
  5. doi:10.5710/PEAPA.08.03.2022.401
    .
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