Английская Википедия:Agathoxylon

Материал из Онлайн справочника
Перейти к навигацииПерейти к поиску

Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Automatic taxobox

Agathoxylon (also known by the synonyms Dadoxylon and Araucarioxylon[1]) is a form genus of fossil wood, including massive tree trunks. Although identified from the late Palaeozoic to the end of the Mesozoic,[2] Agathoxylon is common from the Carboniferous to Triassic.[3] Agathoxylon represents the wood of multiple conifer groups, including both Araucariaceae[4] and Cheirolepidiaceae,[5] with late Paleozoic and Triassic forms possibly representing other conifers or other seed plant groups like "pteridosperms".[6]

Description

Agathoxylon were large trees that bore long strap-like leaves and trunks with small, narrow rays.[3] Often the original cellular structure is preserved as a result of silica in solution in the ground water becoming deposited within the wood cells. This mode of fossilization is termed permineralization.

Systematics

As a genus, Dadoxylon was poorly defined, and apart from Araucariaceae, has been associated with fossil wood as diverse as Cordaitales,[7] Glossopteridales and Podocarpaceae. Furthermore, it may be the same form genus as Araucarioxylon, hence the usage Dadoxylon (Araucarioxylon).[8] The genus Agathoxylon, classified under the family Araucariaceae,[9] has nomenclatural priority over the genera Araucarioxylon and Dadoxylon.[10][11][6]

Several Dadoxylon species, such as D. brandlingii and D. saxonicum have been identified as Araucarites.[12] D. arberi and D. sp.1 were synonymised with the glossopterid species Australoxylon teixterae and A. natalense, respectively; while D. sp. 2 was transferred to Protophyllocladoxylon.

Species

Distribution

Agathoxylon is common in many parts of the world, found in sites of both Gondwana and Laurasia and reported from southern Africa,[25][26] Asia,[27] the Middle East,[28] Europe,[12] South America,[29][1] and North America.[3]

In southern Africa, Agathoxylon is widespread in the Karoo Supergroup.[30] In Zimbabwe, it is especially encountered in the Pebbly Arkose Formation,[25] and also reported frequently from the Angwa Sandstone Formation.[31][32]

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Шаблон:Taxonbar