Zamites

Zamites is a genus of fossil tree known from the Mesozoic of North America, Europe and India through the Eocene of North America. It is a form taxon for leaves that resemble the extant cycad Zamia. The fronds are linear or lanceolate in shape, and pinnately compound, with pinnae with parallel veins and smooth margins, and symmetrical and constricted at the base where they are attached obliquely to the upper surface of the rachis.[1][2][3] It has been interpreted as a cycad in the family Cycadaceae or a Bennettitalean plant.[4]

Zamites
Temporal range: Early Triassic-Eocene
~242–37 Ma
Fossil leaf of Zamites mariposana from the Jurassic
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Spermatophyta
Division:
incertae sedis
Genus:
Zamites

See text

Species

Species include:[4]

  • Z. arcticus
  • Z. bayeri
  • Z. californica
  • Z. mariposana

Distribution

Fossils of Zamites have been found in:[5]

Triassic (to Jurassic)

Antarctica, Austria, China, France, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Romania, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and the United States (New Mexico, North Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Virginia/North Carolina).

Jurassic (to Cretaceous)

Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Chile, China, Colombia (Valle Alto Formation, Caldas), Egypt, France, Georgia, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, Serbia and Montenegro, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States (Montana, Wyoming).

Cretaceous

Canada (Alberta, British Columbia), Ecuador, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, and the United States (Montana, Virginia, Wyoming).

Eocene

United States (California)

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References
  1. Paleobotany: The Biology and Evolution of Fossil Plants (Second Edition), Thomas N. Taylor, Edith L. Taylor and Michael Krings, p. 701, 2008, ISBN 978-0-12-373972-8.
  2. 052133344X Solnhofen: A Study in Mesozoic Palaeontology by K. Werner Barthel, Nicola Helga Margaret Swinburne and Simon Conway Morris, p. 107, 1990
  3. 0300164351 Riddle of the Feathered Dragons: Hidden Birds of China by Feduccia, Alan, p. 75, 2012
  4. Zamites in the Paleobiology Database
  5. Zamites at Fossilworks.org



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