This is the "Fossil Friday" post #249. Expect this to be a somewhat regular feature of the website. We will post any fossil pictures you send in to [email protected]. Please include a short description or story. Check the hash tag #FossilFriday on Twitter/X and Bluesky for contributions from around the world!
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For this week, we have a gorgeous Reticulopteris muensterii from the Mazon Creek fossil deposit. R. muensterii is an extinct seed fern. Seed ferns, or more correctly Pteridospermatophyta, made up part of the forest understory during the Carboniferous. They evolved during the late Devonian, achieving their greatest abundance during the Carboniferous and Permian periods. After declining during the Cretaceous, it's thought that one genus, Komlopteris, may have made it into the earliest Eocene. See Mazon Monday #252 for more on Reticulopteris muensterii.
This particularly, beautiful specimen was sent in by our new Field Trip Chairman, Jeremy Zimmerman. Thanks for sharing, Jeremy!
