Morphological and microscopical study on Scolecopteris

Abstract

The fossil genus Scolecopteris of Marattiales has recently been discovered from the Permian coal-bearing series of southern north and South China. Three species of Scolecopteris are known in China, namely, Scolecopterls cathaysicus sp. nov., S. sinensis sp. nov. and S. unifercata (Yang et Chen) emend. The former two species were collected from the Xiaofengkou Formation and the Shenhou Formation of Middle Permian in the Pingdingshan Coalfield, Henan Province. S. unifercata was collected from the Longtan Formation of Late Permian in Guangdong Province (and also in Fujian and Guizhou Provinces). Fairly detailed researches on the morphology of these three species, especially on the in situ spores S. catspores obaysicus and S. sinensis have been done. Furthermore, the Chinese species of the genus Scolecopteris are compared with those from Euramerica and a preliminary study on the ecology of Scolecopteris has also been made.