Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

New evidence of reproductive organs of Glossopteris based on permineralized fossils from Queensland, Australia. I. Ovulate organ Homevaleia gen. nov.

  • Regular Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Plant Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study describes Homevaleia gouldii H. Nishida, Pigg, Kudo et Rigby gen. et sp. nov., an ovule-bearing glossopterid organ, based on a combination of recently collected permineralized specimens from the Late Permian Homevale Station locality in the Bowen Basin of Queensland, Australia, and on previously studied material from the 1977 Gould and Delevoryas study. Homevaleia, which resembles the compression–impression genus Dictyopteridium, is an inrolled megasporophyll with a distinct keel that bears numerous (over 70) stalked ovules on its adaxial surface. Ovules are small, oval, with an elaborate mesh-like structure that is developed from the outermost integumentary layers. Specimens interpreted as representing different developmental stages show there is an apparent interrelationship between megagametophyte development and the opening of the surrounding fertile structure for pollination. Together, new information provided by this material enables better understanding of glossopterid reproductive structure and its function in one distinctive form.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adendorff R (2005) A revision of the ovulate fructifications of Glossopteris from the Permian of South Africa. Ph.D. dissertation University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

  • Alvin K, Chaloner WG (1970) Parallel evolution in leaf venation: an alternative view of angiosperm origin. Nature 226:662–663

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Archangelsky S (1989) Plant distribution in Gondwana during the Late Paleozoic. In: Taylor TN, Taylor EL (eds) Antarctic paleobiology. Springer, New York, pp 102–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Basinger JF, Rothwell GW (1977) Anatomically preserved plants from the Middle Eocene (Allenby formation) of British Columbia. Can J Bot 55:1984–1990

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doyle JA (2006) Seed ferns and the origin of angiosperms. J Torrey Bot Soc 143:169–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould RE (1970) Palaeosmunda, a new genus of siphonostelic osmundaceous trunks from the Upper Permian of Queensland. Palaeontology 13:10–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Gould RE (1975) A preliminary report on petrified axes of Vertebraria from the Permian of eastern Australia. In: Campbell KSW (ed) Gondwana Symposium, Canberra, 1973. Australian National University Press, Canberra pp 109–115

  • Gould RE, Delevoryas T (1977) The biology of Glossopteris: evidence from petrified seed-bearing and pollen-bearing organs. Alcheringa 1:387–399

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirase S (1895) Etude sur le Ginkgo biloba. Bot Mag Tokyo 9:238–239

    Google Scholar 

  • ICBN St Louis Code (2000) Greuter W, McNeill J, Barrie FR, Burdet H-M, Demoulin TS, Filguerias TS, Nicolson DH, Silva PC, Skog JE, Trehane P, Turland NJ, Hawksworth DL (eds) Regnum Vegetabile 138. Koeltz Scientific Books, Königstein

  • Joy KW, Willis AJ, Lacey WS (1956) A rapid cellulose acetate peel method in palaeobotany. Ann Bot 20:635–637

    Google Scholar 

  • Klavins SD, Taylor EL, Krings M, Taylor TN (2001) An unusual, structurally preserved ovule from the Permian of Antarctica. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 115:107–117

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McLoughlin S (1990) Palaeobotany and palaeoenvironments of Permian strata, Bowen Basin, Queensland. Ph.D. Thesis University of Queensland, St Lucia

  • McLoughlin S (1990) Some Permian glossopterid leaves and fructifications from the Bown Basin. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 62:11–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLoughlin S (1992) Late Permian plant megafossils from the Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia, Part 1. Palaeontographica 228B:105–149

    Google Scholar 

  • McLoughlin S, Drinnan AN (1996) Anatomically preserved Noeggerathiopsis leaves from east Antarctica. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 92:207–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McManus HA, Taylor EL, Taylor TN, Collinson JW (2002) A petrified Glossopteris flora from Collinson Ridge, central Transantarctic Mountains: Late Permian or Early Triassic? Rev Palaeobot Palynol 120:233–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neish PG, Drinnan AN, Cantrill DJ (1993) Structure and ontogeny of Vertebraria roots from silicified Permian sediments in East Antarctica. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 79:221–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nishida H, Pigg KB, Rigby JF (2003) Swimming sperm in an extinct Gondwanan plant. Nature 422:396 397

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nishida H, Pigg KB, Kudo K, Rigby J (2004) Zooidogamy in the Late Permian genus Glossopteris. J Plant Res 117:323–328

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pigg KB (1990) Anatomically preserved Glossopteris foliage from the central Transantarctic Mountains. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 66:105–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pigg KB, McLoughlin S (1997) Anatomically preserved Glossopteris leaves from the Bowen and Sydney basins, Australia. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 97:339–359

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pigg KB, Nishida H (2006) The significance of silicified plant remains to the understanding of Glossopteris-bearing plants. J Torrey Bot Soc 143:46–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Pigg KB, Trivett ML (1994) Evolution of the glossopterid gymnosperms from Permian Gondwana. J Plant Res 107:461–477

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plumstead EP (1952) Description of two new genera and six new species of fructifications borne on Glossopteris leaves from South Africa. Trans Geol Soc S Afr 55:281–328

    Google Scholar 

  • Plumstead EP (1956) Bisexual fructifications borne on Glossopteris leaves from South Africa. Palaeontographica 100B:1–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Plumstead EP (1958) Further fructifications of the Glossopteridae and a provisional classification based on them. Trans Geol Soc S Afr 61:52–74

    Google Scholar 

  • Schopf JM (1970) Petrified peat from a Permian coal bed in Antarctica. Science 169:274–277

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schopf JM (1976) Morphologic interpretation of fertile structures in glossopterid gymnosperms. Rev Palaeobot Palynol 21:25–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smoot EL, Taylor TN (1986) Evidence of simple polyembryony in Permian seeds from Antarctica. Amer J Bot 73:1079–1081

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart WN, Rothwell GW (1993) Paleobotany and the evolution of plants, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor EL, Taylor TN (1992) Reproductive biology of the Permian Glossopteridales and their suggested relationship to flowering plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89:11495–11497

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor TN, Taylor EL (1987) Structurally preserved fossil plants from Antarctica III. Permian seeds. Amer J Bot 74:904–913

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao L, Taylor EL, Taylor TN (1994) Permian seeds from Antarctica. Am J Bot 81:105 (supplement-abstracts)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Robert Jones, The Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia, for providing access to the Gould and Delevoryas specimens from Homevale, and Melanie L. DeVore, Georgia State College & University, Milledgeville, GA, USA, for reading a draft of the manuscript. The field collection at Homevale was supported by Grants for Overseas Survey No. 04041034 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan to Professor Masahiro Kato, University of Tokyo (now at National Science Museum), and No. 08041135 to Dr Motomi Ito, University of Tokyo, to whom we are deeply grateful. This study was supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research No. 07640933 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan to H.N. and by National Science Foundation Grant BSR-9006625, and an Arizona State University Faculty Grant-in-Aid to K.B.P.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo, Tokyo, 112-8551, Japan

    Harufumi Nishida

  2. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Kathleen B. Pigg

  3. Sankyo Labo Service Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

    Kensuke Kudo

  4. Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

    John F. Rigby

Authors
  1. Harufumi Nishida
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kathleen B. Pigg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kensuke Kudo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. John F. Rigby
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Harufumi Nishida.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nishida, H., Pigg, K.B., Kudo, K. et al. New evidence of reproductive organs of Glossopteris based on permineralized fossils from Queensland, Australia. I. Ovulate organ Homevaleia gen. nov.. J Plant Res 120, 539–549 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-007-0093-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-007-0093-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation