Pitus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of plants}} {{automatic taxobox | taxon = Pitus | fossil_range = Mississippian | image = Pitys withamii fossil outside Natural History Museum.jpg | image_caption = ''Pitus withamii'' fossil outside Natural History Museum, London | authority = Witham | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *''Pitus primaeva'' Witham *''Pitus antiqua'' Witham *''Pitus withamii'' (Lindley and Hutton) Arnold }} '''''Pitus''''', also known as '''''Pitys''''', is an extinct genus of early "pteridosperm" (also known as "seed fern") seed plant (gymnosperm ''sensu lato''). A morphogenus representing wood, they are primarily known from remains found in Euramerica (also known as Laurussia) during the Early Carboniferous (Mississippian),<ref name=":0" /> including Newfoundland and Scotland. They are particularly well known from fossils found in southern Scotland of Viséan age (with the species ''P. withamii'' having the colloquial name of the '''Craigleith tree<ref name=":1" />''') when the area had a tropical climate. Their trunks reached at least {{Convert|20|m}} in height and {{Convert|1|m}} wide at the base, and were the tallest trees at the time. They are associated with rachis of ''Lyginorachis,'' and the leaves of ''Sphenopteris.''<ref name="Pitus">{{cite journal |last1=Henderson |first1=Elsa |last2=Falcon-Lang |first2=Howard J. |title=Diversity and ontogeny of Pitus tree-trunks in the early Mississippian rocks of the Isle of Bute, Scotland: The importance of sample size and quantitative analysis for fossil wood systematics |journal=Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology |date=2011 |volume=166 |issue=3–4 |pages=202–212 |doi=10.1016/j.revpalbo.2011.05.009 |bibcode=2011RPaPa.166..202H }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite journal |url=https://research-scotland.ac.uk/server/api/core/bitstreams/d5c89368-6428-461b-a8ed-3eee8dd6678e/content |journal=Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) |title=The Craigleith Tree ("''Pitys withamii'' Tree"): Morphology, taxonomy, preservation and ecological context|last=Cleal|first=Christopher J.|date=2022}}</ref> They are considered to be part of the "hydrasperman" group of seed ferns (which is likely paraphyletic<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bateman |first=Richard M. |last2=Spencer |first2=Alan R. T. |last3=Hilton |first3=Jason |date=2026-01-26 |title=Early evolutionary history of the seed |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/brv.70134 |journal=Biological Reviews |language=en |doi=10.1002/brv.70134 |issn=1464-7931}}</ref>). A distant relationship with modern cycads has been proposed.<ref name=":1" /> Attribution of remains from Australia to the genus has been questioned.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Laloux |first=Bertrand |last2=Decombeix |first2=Anne-Laure |date=2022-12-12 |title=New Pitus and Eristophyton-type woods from the Tournaisian of Queensland, Australia: taxonomic, biogeographic, and palaeoclimatic implications |url=http://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/fr/periodiques/comptes-rendus-palevol/21/42 |journal=Comptes Rendus Palevol |issue=42 |doi=10.5852/cr-palevol2022v21a42 |issn=1777-571X}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Gymnosperms Category:Prehistoric gymnosperm genera Category:Carboniferous plants