Pteruchus

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Geological range/linked|Triassic}}

| image = Pteruchus africanus.jpg

| image_caption = Pteruchus africanus fossil pollen organ, Late Triassic, Molteno Formation, Umkomaas, South Africa.

| taxon = Pteruchus

| authority = Thomas (1933){{cite journal

| title=On some pteridospermous plants from the Mesozoic rocks of South Africa

| author=Thomas, H.H.

| journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B

| year=1933

| volume=222

| issue=483–493

| pages=193–265

| doi=10.1098/rstb.1932.0016

| doi-access=free

}}

Pteruchus is a form genus for pollen organs of the seed fern (Pteridospermatophyta family Umkomasiaceae. It was first described by Hamshaw Thomas from the Umkomaas locality of South Africa. It is associated with the seed bearing organs Umkomasia and Dicroidium leaves.

File:Umkomasia macleani reconstruction.jpg, pollen organs (Pteruchus africanus based largely on material from the Umkomaas locality of South Africa{{cite journal

| title=Reconstructions of selected seed ferns.

|author1=Retallack, G.J. |author2=Dilcher, D.L

|name-list-style=amp | journal=Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden

| year=1988

| volume=75

|issue=3 | pages=1010–1057

| doi=10.2307/2399379

|jstor=2399379 }}

]]

Description

The pollen organ Pteruchus differs from other seed fern pollen organs in having numerous pendant pollen sacs from a blade-like head, in an arrangement similar to an epaulette.

Whole plant reconstructions

Pteruchus africanus may have been produced by the same plant as Umkomasia macleanii (ovulate organs) and Dicroidium odontopteroides (leaves), based on cuticular similarities between these leaves and reproductive structures at the Umkomaas locality of South Africa.
Pteruchus barrealensis may have been produced by the same plant as Umkomasia feistmantelii (ovulate organs) and Dicroidium zuberi (leaves), based on cuticular similarities between these leaves and reproductive structures near Sydney Australia.{{cite journal

| title=Reconstructing Triassic vegetation of Australasia: a new approach for the biostratigraphy of Gondwanaland

| author=Retallack, G.J.

| journal=Alcheringa

| year=1977

| volume=1

| pages=247–278

| doi=10.1080/03115517708527763

}}

Pteruchus septentrionalis from the Lower Jurassic of Germany has been placed in the separate genus Muelkirchium.{{Cite journal|last1=Anderson|first1=Heidi M.|last2=Barbacka|first2=Maria|last3=Bamford|first3=Marion K.|last4=Holmes|first4=W. B. Keith|last5=Anderson|first5=John M.|date=2019-10-02|title=Pteruchus (microsporophyll): part 2 of a reassessment of Gondwana Triassic plant genera and a reclassification of some previously attributed|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03115518.2019.1617348|journal=Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology|language=en|volume=43|issue=4|pages=511–533|doi=10.1080/03115518.2019.1617348|s2cid=198398356|issn=0311-5518|url-access=subscription}}

References

Category:Triassic plants

Category:Pteridospermatophyta