Inferring Reproductive Biology of a Carboniferous Arborescent Lycopod (2012)
Undergraduate: Jarrett McDowell
Faculty Advisor: Patricia Gensel
Department: Biology
The lycophyte Lepidodendropsis was a Early Carboniferous arborescent plant that existed within the humid equatorial swamps of Euramerica approximately 350 mya. Features used to segregate the common vegetative species of Lepidodendropsis in southwestern Virginia have been found within the same specimen. Because of this observation, the clade needs to be re-evaluated for a better clarification of the Carboniferous lycophyte species that existed. This study aimed to characterize spores and sporangia in order to fully reconstruct its reproductive biology. Compression and impression specimens in autochthonous deposits were analyzed. Megaspores display forked spines on distal surface and an unornamented gula on the proximal surface. Microspores, 37.4?m to 53.9?m, exhibit coni. Sporangia have an average length of 24.92mm, ranged from 33.39mm to 1.05 mm. Sporangia are ellpitical ovoid with two different forms: split or non-split. Of the non-split sporangia, some are slender and non-tapered and others are wider and strongly tapered at one end. To associate the reproductive parts with the plant, spores will next be compared to attached sporangia.