Pteruchus

{{Short description|Extinct genus of seed ferns}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{Geological range/linked|Triassic}} | image = Pteruchus africanus.jpg | image_caption = ''Pteruchus africanus'' fossil pollen organ, Late Triassic, Molteno Formation, Umkomaas, South Africa. | taxon = Pteruchus | authority = Thomas (1933)<ref name="Thomas-1933">{{cite journal | title=On some pteridospermous plants from the Mesozoic rocks of South Africa | author=Thomas, H.H. | journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B | year=1933 | volume=222 | issue=483–493 | pages=193–265 | doi=10.1098/rstb.1932.0016 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

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'''''Pteruchus''''' is a form genus for pollen organs of the seed fern (Pteridospermatophyta family Umkomasiaceae. It was first described by Hamshaw Thomas<ref name="Thomas-1933"/> from the Umkomaas locality of South Africa. It is associated with the seed bearing organs ''Umkomasia'' and ''Dicroidium'' leaves. [[File:Umkomasia macleani reconstruction.jpg|thumb|left|200px|''Umkomasia macleani'' reconstruction of whole plant including leaves (''Dicroidium odontopteroides'', pollen organs (''Pteruchus africanus'' based largely on material from the Umkomaas locality of South Africa<ref>{{cite journal | title=Reconstructions of selected seed ferns. |author1=Retallack, G.J. |author2=Dilcher, D.L |name-list-style=amp | journal=Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden | year=1988 | volume=75 |issue=3 | pages=1010–1057 | doi=10.2307/2399379 |jstor=2399379 }}</ref> ]]

== Description == The pollen organ ''Pteruchus'' differs from other seed fern pollen organs in having numerous pendant pollen sacs from a blade-like head, in an arrangement similar to an epaulette.

== Whole plant reconstructions == *''Pteruchus africanus'' may have been produced by the same plant as ''Umkomasia macleanii'' (ovulate organs) and ''Dicroidium odontopteroides'' (leaves), based on cuticular similarities between these leaves and reproductive structures at the Umkomaas locality of South Africa.<ref name="Thomas-1933"/> *''Pteruchus barrealensis'' may have been produced by the same plant as ''Umkomasia feistmantelii'' (ovulate organs) and ''Dicroidium zuberi'' (leaves), based on cuticular similarities between these leaves and reproductive structures near Sydney Australia.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Reconstructing Triassic vegetation of Australasia: a new approach for the biostratigraphy of Gondwanaland | author=Retallack, G.J. | journal=Alcheringa | year=1977 | volume=1 | pages=247–278 | doi=10.1080/03115517708527763 }} </ref> *''Pteruchus septentrionalis'' from the Lower Jurassic of Germany has been placed in the separate genus ''Muelkirchium.''<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Anderson|first1=Heidi M.|last2=Barbacka|first2=Maria|last3=Bamford|first3=Marion K.|last4=Holmes|first4=W. B. Keith|last5=Anderson|first5=John M.|date=2019-10-02|title=Pteruchus (microsporophyll): part 2 of a reassessment of Gondwana Triassic plant genera and a reclassification of some previously attributed|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03115518.2019.1617348|journal=Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology|language=en|volume=43|issue=4|pages=511–533|doi=10.1080/03115518.2019.1617348|s2cid=198398356|issn=0311-5518|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Triassic plants Category:Pteridospermatophyta