Noeggerathia

{{Short description|Extinct genus of plants}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{fossil range|Late Carboniferous|Early Permian}} | image = Noeggerathia expansa.jpg | image_alt = Fossilized leaf-like structures | image_caption = 1863 reconstruction of ''Noeggerathia expansa'' | taxon = Noeggerathia | authority = Sternb., 1820<ref name=century>{{cite book|last=Whitney|first=William Dwight|title=The Century dictionary and cyclopedia: a work of universal reference in all departments of knowledge with a new atlas of the world|year=1906|publisher=The Century Co.|location=New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fnxEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA4007|authorlink=William Dwight Whitney|author2=Smith, Benjamin Eli |authorlink2=Benjamin Eli Smith |accessdate=29 January 2012|page=4007|volume=5|format=Google eBook}}</ref> | type_species = ''Noeggerathia foliosa'' | type_species_authority = Sternb. | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text }}

'''''Noeggerathia''''' is an extinct genus of noeggerathialean plant that lived during the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian periods.<ref name=dk>{{cite book|last=Palmer|first=Douglas|title=Prehistoric life : the definitive visual history of life on earth|year=2009|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=New York|isbn=978-0-7566-5573-0|edition=1st American|pages=152–153|display-authors=etal|title-link=Prehistoric Life (book)}}</ref>

==Description== ''Noeggerathia'' could grow to be 3 ft, 3 in tall.<ref name=dk/> It is known for its compound leaves, each possessing two rows of leaflets which composed a 12-inch frond.<ref name=dk/> ''Noeggerathia'' may also have possessed a short trunk.<ref name=dk/>

The genus may have possessed strobili at the ends of its branches for reproductive purposes.<ref name=pb>{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Thomas N.|title=Paleobotany : the biology and evolution of fossil plants|year=2009|publisher=Academic Press|location=Amsterdam|isbn=978-0-12-373972-8|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_29tNNeQKeMC&pg=PA498|edition=2nd|author2=Taylor, Edith L. |author3=Krings, Michael |accessdate=29 January 2012|page=498|chapter-format=Google eBook|chapter=Progymnosperms}}</ref> Biseriate sporophylls existed on either side of the cones.<ref name=pb/> It has been previously suggested that ''Noeggerathiostrobus'' may have been borne at the end of ''Noeggerathia'''s stems. However, it is more likely that ''Noeggerathiostrobus'' was borne closer to the base of ''Noeggerathia''.<ref name="adv">{{cite book | title=Advances in Botanical Research | publisher=Academic Press | author=Preston, R. D. | year=1963 | location=London | isbn=0-12-005901-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9MgOdyQOEW4C&pg=PT47 | volume=1 | page=34}}</ref>

==Taxonomy== ''Noeggerathia'' was named after Johann Jakob Nöggerath, a geologist from Germany.<ref name=century/><ref name=dk/> The genus was described in 1820 by Kaspar Maria von Sternberg.<ref name=century/>

''Noeggerathia'' and noeggerathialeans in general have been described as difficult to classify as early as 1906<ref name=century/> and as recently as 2009.<ref name=dk/> In 1906, the genus was believed to belong to Cycadaceae, a family currently consisting of only ''Cycas''.<ref name=century/>

The species described under ''Noeggerathia'' include the following:<ref name=fcp>{{cite book|last1=Dijkstra|first1=Sybren J.|title=Fossilium catalogus plantae|year=1983|publisher=Kugler Publications, B.V.|location=The Netherlands|isbn=90-6299-009-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AVYKUPdOVjEC&pg=PA431|last2=van Amerom|first2=H. W. J.|accessdate=31 January 2012|page=431|format=Google eBook|volume=90}}</ref>

*''Noeggerathia dickeri'' Horowitz *''Noeggerathia foliosa'' Sternb. *''Noeggerathia intermedia'' Feistm. *''Noeggerathia obovata'' Carruth. *''Noeggerathia speciosa'' Ettingsh. *''Noeggerathia zalesskyi'' Fissunenko *''Noeggerathia zamitoides'' Sterzel

==Fossil sites== Specimens of ''Noeggerathia'' have been discovered worldwide.<ref name=dk/> As of 1906, ''Noeggerathia'' was known from finds in the European Coal Measures and was considered rare there.<ref name=century/>

Several well-preserved specimens of ''Noeggerathia'' and related plants have been discovered in the Bohemian Massif, with ''N. foliosa'' having the most complete fossil record in that area.<ref name=scidirect>{{cite journal|last1=Šimůnek|first1=Zbyněk|last2=Bek|first2=Jiřı́|title=Noeggerathiaceae from the Carboniferous basins of the Bohemian Massif|journal=Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology|date=July 2003|volume=125|issue=3–4|pages=249–284|doi=10.1016/S0034-6667(03)00004-6}}</ref> ''N. dickeri'' has been described from the Upper Sandstone Formation of the Sinai Peninsula.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Horowitz|first=Aharon|title=Noeggerathia dickeri n.sp. from the carboniferous of Sinai|journal=Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology|date=March 1973|volume=15|issue=1|pages=51–56|doi=10.1016/0034-6667(73)90016-X|authorlink=Aharon Horowitz}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|40em}}

Category:Pennsylvanian plants Category:Fossil taxa described in 1820 Category:Pennsylvanian first appearances Category:Cisuralian genus extinctions Category:Paleozoic life of Nova Scotia Category:Paleozoic life of Prince Edward Island Category:Prehistoric plant genera