This is Mazon Monday post #247. What's your favorite Mazon Creek fossil? Tell us at email:[email protected].
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Oligocarpia gutbierii is a herbaceous fern found in the Mazon Creek fossil biota. It belongs to a poorly understood group, which was an early member of the extant order Filicales.
Oligocarpia gutbierii was first described in 1841 by Heinrich Göppert, a German botanist and paleontologist (1800–1884). Göppert was a professor of botany and the curator of the botanical gardens in Breslau. In the 1840s, he made a groundbreaking discovery by demonstrating the presence of plant cells in microscopic samples of coal, resolving the long-standing debate about coal's botanical origins. During his time, Göppert's private collection of fossil flora was regarded as the most extensive and finest in the world.
O. gutbierii can be found on page 112 of Jack Wittry's "A Comprehensive Guide to the Fossil Flora of Mazon Creek".
Oligocarpia gutbierii Göppert, 18411841. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert: p. 35 pl. 4, figs. 1, 2
1879-80. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert; Lesquereux: p. 266, pl. 48, figs. 1-3
1899. Oligocarpia ef. gutbieri; White: p.69,
1899. Oligocarpia missouriensis White: p. 66 partial, pl. 20, fig. 1; pl. 21, figs. 1-4
1923. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert; Kidston: p. 285, pl. 70, figs. 1-3; pl. 75, figs. 1, 2
1958. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert; Langford: p. 253, fig. 461
1958. Oligocarpia brongniarti (non Stur); Langford: p. 253, fig. 460
1969. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert; Darrah: p. 160, pl. 25, fig. 3; pl. 55, fig. 2
1979. Dicksonites pluckeneti (non Schlotheim); Janssen: p. 140, figs. 1170, 123
1983. Oligocarpia gutbieri Göppert; Brousmiche: p. 236, pls. 57-61DESCRIPTION: The penultimate pinnae are widest in the middle and are generally lanceolate with a heavy, smooth, and straight rachis. The ultimate pinnae are alternate, gradually taper from their bases to their apices, are generally free, holding 8 to 13 pairs of pinnules, and end in blunt lobes. The rachis is heavy, smooth, and straight. The pinnules are attached by a wide and constricted base, with a shallow sinus on the lower side and a larger one on the upper side. They are oval or subtriangular and become slightly undulating and recurved at the margins as they become elongated. Near the pinna base, the pinnules have a single lobe (see Fig. 3a) on the acro- scopic side. The pinnules are all slightly larger on the acroscopic side of the pinna, especially those near the base. The venation is well marked and dichotomous, with a thin, flexuous, and decurrent midvein. The lateral veins rise from a bend in the midvein, then divide near the base; the upper vein may divide again in larger pinnules. When fertile, the sori are located on the ends of short lateral veins.REMARKS: Oligocarpia guthierii is uncommon. White (1899) doubted that Lesquereux's interpretation of O. gutbierii was the correct one for North American examples. He believed that the original description by Göppert could not be completely conformed to, and added a cf. to specimens that were similar to those which Lesquereux had figured in his description (see Fig. 4). Darrah (1969) compared the Mazon Creek form with the European taxon O. gutbierii, but more tentatively as O. cf. gutbierii on the one specimen he figured that was from the Mazon Creek area. He did so noting that the Mazon Creek examples have heavier rachises than what he considered normal for this taxon. He prefaced his description by saying he had not seen any genuine European specimens. On the other hand, Lesquereux's interpretation of this taxon was agreed with by both Kidston and Brousmiche.
Specimens
