Adoketophyton
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Adoketophyton Temporal range: Early Devonian |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: |
Lycophytina |
| Genus: |
†Adoketophyton C.S.Li & D.Edwards (1992) |
| Species | |
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† A. subverticillatum (X.-X. Li & C.-Y. Cai) C.S.Li & D.Edwards (1992) |
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† A. subverticillatum (X.-X. Li & C.-Y. Cai) C.S.Li & D.Edwards (1992)
† A. parvulum Zhu et al. (2011)
Adoketophyton is a genus of extinct vascular plants of the Early Devonian (Pragian stage, around 410 million years ago). The plant was first described in 1977 based on fossil specimens from the Posongchong Formation, Wenshan district, Yunnan, China. These were originally named Zosterophyllum subverticillatum; later the species was transferred to a new genus as Adoketophyton subverticillatum.Cladistic analysis suggests that it is a lycophyte, related to the zosterophylls.
Like other Early Devonian plants, the sporophyte of Adoketophyton consisted of leafless stems (axes), approximately 1 to 2.5 mm in diameter. These branched equally or unequally (pseudomonopodially). Its vascular tissue was relatively simple, consisting of a central (centrarch) cylinder of primary xylem with G-type tracheids. Fossils suggest that stems which did not bear sporangia initially had coiled (circinnate) tips, consistent with other "zosterophylls", and similar to the way in which modern ferns grow. A unique feature of this genus among plants of similar age is the manner in which the sporangia (spore-forming organs) were borne. Fertile stems had terminal 'strobili', structures very superficially resembling an ear of wheat, which consisted of four vertical rows of fan-shaped leaf-like organs (sporophylls), each with a stalked sporangium on the side facing the stem (adaxial). The flattened sporangia were almost round and split (dehisced) along a distally thickened margin into two equal parts. The sporophylls may have had vascular tissue.
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