This is Mazon Monday post #55. What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected].
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For this week, we have a somewhat uncommon form of Neuropteris... Neuropteris inflata. These leaves look very similar to Macroneuropteris scheuchzerii. And, could be taken for a large specimen. However, these are however different than M. scheuchzerii and are missing the characteristic "hairs".
Neuropteris inflata appears in "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek" on page 205.
Neuropteris inflata Lesquereux, 1866
1866. Neuropteris inflata Lesquereux: p. 431. pl. 37, fig. 2
1879-0. Neuropteris inflata Lesquereux: p. 86, pl. 7, figs. 2-4a
1958. Neuropteris inflata Lesquereux; Langford: p. 191, figs. 337-339
1963. Celopteris inflata Lesquereux; Langford: p. 249, figs. 885, 886DESCRIPTION: The pinnae are linear with a heavy and irregularly striate rachis. The terminal pinnule is large and triangular. The rachis ascends and terminates high inside the pinnule. The lateral pinnules are alternate or subopposite, slightly oblique, distant, and oval. They are sessile and have a broad attachment. The lateral veins enter the pinnule from the rachis and are cyclopterid-like, radiating from the rachis with no midvein. They are inflated near the base, arcuate, becoming thin and close at the margin, and about 25 to 30 per centimeter.
REMARKS: Neuropteris inflata is uncommon. It appears similar to Macroneuropteris scheuchzerii which produces many polymorphic leaf forms. N. inflata may turn out to be an impar-kind of pinnule. The characteristic "hairs" on M. scheuchzerii are never seen on N. inflata. They have not been reported in other localities where M. scheuchzerii is commonly found. It is considered here as a morphospecies only. Its status as a separate biological species remains problematic.
Field Museum specimen
Langford specimen
