Agathoxylon

Agathoxylon
Temporal range: Late Carboniferous-Maastrichtian 317–66 Ma
Agathoxylon fossil trunks from the Bumi Hills area of Zimbabwe
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Gymnosperms
Division: Pinophyta
Class: Pinopsida
Order: Araucariales
Family: Araucariaceae
Genus: †Agathoxylon
Hartig 1848
Type species
†Agathoxylon cordaianum
Hartig 1848
Species

See text

Synonyms
Agathoxylon synonymy
  • Agathoxylon
    P.Greguss 1952
  • Araucariopsis
    Caspary
  • Araucarioxylon
    Kraus
  • Cordaioxylon
    Felix
  • Cordaixylon
    Grand
  • Cordaites
  • Dadoxylon
    Endlicher
  • Dammaroxylon
    J.Schultze-Motel
  • Palaeoxylon
    A.T.Brongniart
  • Peuce
    Lindley & W.Hutton
  • Platyspiroxylon
    P.Greguss
  • Simplicioxylon
    G.Andreánszky

Agathoxylon (also known by the synonyms Dadoxylon and Araucarioxylon) is a form genus of fossil wood, including massive tree trunks. Although identified from the late Palaeozoic to the end of the Mesozoic, Agathoxylon is common from the Carboniferous to Triassic. Agathoxylon represents the wood of multiple conifer groups, including both Araucariaceae and Cheirolepidiaceae, with late Paleozoic and Triassic forms possibly representing other conifers or other seed plant groups like "pteridosperms".

Description

Agathoxylon were large trees that bore long strap-like leaves and trunks with small, narrow rays. Often the original cellular structure is preserved as a result of silica in solution in the ground water becoming deposited within the wood cells. This mode of fossilization is termed permineralization.

Systematics

As a genus, Dadoxylon was poorly defined, and apart from Araucariaceae, has been associated with fossil wood as diverse as Cordaitales, Glossopteridales and Podocarpaceae. Furthermore, it may be the same form genus as Araucarioxylon, hence the usage Dadoxylon (Araucarioxylon). The genus Agathoxylon, classified under the family Araucariaceae, has nomenclatural priority over the genera Araucarioxylon and Dadoxylon.

Several Dadoxylon species, such as D. brandlingii and D. saxonicum have been identified as Araucarites. D. arberi and D. sp.1 were synonymised with the glossopterid species Australoxylon teixterae and A. natalense, respectively; while D. sp. 2 was transferred to Protophyllocladoxylon.

Species

Distribution

Agathoxylon is common in many parts of the world, found in sites of both Gondwana and Laurasia and reported from southern Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, South America, and North America.

In southern Africa, Agathoxylon is widespread in the Karoo Supergroup. In Zimbabwe, it is especially encountered in the Pebbly Arkose Formation, and also reported frequently from the Angwa Sandstone Formation.

References

  1. ↑ E.R. Farr; G. Zijlstra, eds. (1996). "Index Nominum Genericorum (ING). A compilation of generic names published for organisms covered by the ICN: International Code of Nomenclature for Algae, Fungi, and Plants. [previously: organisms covered by the International Code for Botanical Nomenclature]".
  2. ↑ Torrey, R. E. (1923). "The comparative anatomy and phylogeny of the Coniferales Part 3: Mesozoic and Tertiary coniferous woods". Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. 3. Vol. 6. Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural History. pp. 38–103.
  3. 1 2 Adriana Kloster and Silvia Gnaedinger (2018). "Coniferous wood of Agathoxylon from the La Matilde Formation, (Middle Jurassic), Santa Cruz, Argentina". Journal of Paleontology. 92 (2): 1–22. Bibcode:2018JPal...92..546K. doi:10.1017/jpa.2017.145. hdl:11336/91290. S2CID 134153671.
  4. ↑ Giraud, Bernadette (1991). "Les espèces du genre Dadoxylon depuis 1962: Leur répartition et leur évolution du Permien à la fin du Mésozoïque". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 67 (1–2): 13–39. Bibcode:1991RPaPa..67...13G. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(91)90014-T.
  5. 1 2 3 Falcon-Lang, Howard J. (2011). "Fossil wood". Geology Today. 27 (4): 154–158. Bibcode:2011GeolT..27..154F. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2451.2011.00803.x. S2CID 247666981.
  6. ↑ Santos, Ângela Cristine Scaramuzza; Siegloch, Anelise Marta; Guerra-Sommer, Margot; Degani-Schmidt, Isabela; Carvalho, Ismar (December 2021). "Agathoxylon santanensis sp. nov. from the Aptian Crato fossil Lagerstätte, Santana Formation, Araripe Basin, Brazil". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 112 103633. Bibcode:2021JSAES.11203633S. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103633. S2CID 244110901.
  7. ↑ Thevenard, Frédéric; Chernomorets, Oleksandra; Moreau, Jean-David; Neraudeau, Didier; Philippe, Marc (2022-08-30). "A review of the Hirmeriellaceae (Cheirolepidiaceae) wood". IAWA Journal. 43 (4): 428–447. doi:10.1163/22941932-bja10099. ISSN 0928-1541. S2CID 252025365.
  8. 1 2 R. Rößler, M. Philippe, J. van Konijnenburg-van Cittert, S. Mcloughlin, J. Sakala and G. Zijlstra (2014). "Which name(s) should be used for Araucaria-like fossil wood?—Results of a poll". Taxon. 63 (1): 177–184. Bibcode:2014Taxon..63..177R. doi:10.12705/631.7. hdl:1874/306568. S2CID 42143019.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ D.H. Scott (1909). Studies in fossil botany. Vol. 2 Spermophyta. Adam and Charles Black, London.
  10. ↑ Philippe, Marc (2011). "How many species of Araucarioxylon?". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 10 (2–3): 201–208. Bibcode:2011CRPal..10..201P. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2010.10.010.
  11. ↑ Frank H. Knowlton (1889). "New species of fossil wood (Araucarioxylon arizonicum) from Arizona and New Mexico" (PDF). Proceedings of the United States National Museum. 11 (676): 1–5. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.11-676.1.
  12. ↑ M. Bamford and M. Philippe (2001). "Jurassic–Early Cretaceous Gondwanan homoxylous woods: a nomenclatural revision of the genera with taxonomic notes". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 113 (4): 287–297. Bibcode:2001RPaPa.113..287B. doi:10.1016/S0034-6667(00)00065-8. PMID 11179718.
  13. ↑ M. Philippe and M. Bamford (2008). "A key to morphogenera used for Mesozoic conifer-like woods". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 148 (2–4): 184–207. Bibcode:2008RPaPa.148..184P. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2007.09.004.
  14. 1 2 Mencl, Václav; Matysová, Petra; Sakala, Jakub (2009). "Silicified wood from the Czech part of the Intra Sudetic Basin (Late Pennsylvanian, Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic): Systematics, silicification and palaeoenvironment". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. 252 (3): 269. Bibcode:2009NJGPA.252..269M. doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2009/0252-0269.
  15. ↑ M.K. Bamford, Bruce Cairncross and H. Lombard (2020). "Silicified fossil woods from the Late Permian Middleton Formation, Beaufort Group, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa and their palaeoenvironmental significance". South African Journal of Geology. 123 (4): 465–478. Bibcode:2020SAJG..123..465B. doi:10.25131/sajg.123.0036. S2CID 228943477.
  16. ↑ M. de Wit, M. Bamford & C. van Waarden (2018). "Fossil trees from the basal Triassic Lebung Group at the Makgaba site, west of Mokubilo, Botswana". Palaeontologica Africana. 52: 194–200.
  17. ↑ Roberto R. Pujana, Maria Eugenia Raffi and Eduardo B. Olivero (2017). "Conifer fossil woods from the Santa Marta Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Brandy Bay, James Ross Island, Antarctica". Cretaceous Research. 77: 28–38. Bibcode:2017CrRes..77...28P. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2017.04.016. hdl:11336/49454.
  18. ↑ Pujana, R. R., Wilf, P., & Gandolfo, M. A. (2020). Conifer wood assemblage dominated by Podocarpaceae, early Eocene of Laguna del Hunco, central Argentinean Patagonia. PhytoKeys, 156, 81–102. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.156.54175
  19. ↑ Natasha Barbolini, Marion Bamford and Steve Tolan (2016). "Permo-Triassic palynology and palaeobotany of Zambia: A review". Palaeontologica Africana. 50: 18–30.
  20. ↑ D. Vogellehner (1965). "Untersuchungen zur Anatomie und Systematik der Verkieselten Holzer aus dem Frankischen und Sunthuringischen Keuper". Erlanger Geologische Abhandlungen. 59: 1–76.
  21. ↑ H.K. Maheshwari (1963). "Studies on the Glossopteris flora of India - 16. Dadoxylon jamudhiense, a new species of fossil wood from the Raniganj stage of Jharia Coalfield, Bihar". The Palaeobotanist. 14: 267–269.
  22. ↑ M.N.V. Prasad (1982). "An annotated synopsis of Indian Palaeozoic gymnospermous woods". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 38 (1–2): 119–156. Bibcode:1982RPaPa..38..119P. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(82)90053-7.
  23. ↑ Marion Bamford (1997). "Fossil wood from the Boteti River and Tshaitshe, Botswana". Botswana Notes and Records. 29: 1–8. JSTOR 40980182.
  24. ↑ W.N. Edwards (1933). "Triassic wood from the Malay States". Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 11 (2 (117)): 236–241. JSTOR 41559820.
  25. ↑ W.S. Lacey and R.C. Lucas (1984). "Plants from the Luangwa and Luano Valleys of Zambia and their bearing on age determination". Fossil Evolutionary Botany and Biostratigraphy. A.K. Ghosh Commemorative Volume: 451–461.
  26. ↑ E. Iamandei and S. Iamandei (2004). "New conifers in the Late Cretaceous lignoflora from the South Apuseni". Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae. 4: 137–150.
  27. 1 2 Nugent, Chris (1990). "The Zambezi River: Tectonism, climatic change and drainage evolution". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 78 (1–2): 55–69. Bibcode:1990PPP....78...55N. doi:10.1016/0031-0182(90)90204-K.
  28. ↑ Colin MacRae (1999). Life etched in stone: Fossils of South Africa. The Geological Society of South Africa, Johannesburg.
  29. ↑ Naugolnykh, S. V.; Ponomarenko, A. G. (2010). "Possible traces of feeding by beetles in coniferophyte wood from the Kazanian of the Kama River basin". Paleontological Journal. 44 (4): 468. Bibcode:2010PalJ...44..468N. doi:10.1134/S0031030110040131. S2CID 129151531.
  30. ↑ Hatice Kutluk, Osman Kır and Ünal Akkemik (2012). "First Report of Araucariaceae wood (Agathoxylon sp.) from the Late Cretaceous of Turkey". IAWA Journal. 33 (3): 319–326. doi:10.1163/22941932-90000097.
  31. ↑ Francine Kurzawe and Sheila Merlotti. "O complexo Dadoxylon-Araucarioxylon, Carbonífero e Permiano do Gondwana: estudo taxonômico do gênero Dadoxylon" (PDF). Pesquisas em Geociências. 36: 223–232. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
  32. ↑ Marion Bamford (1999). "Permo-Triassic fossil woods from the South African Karoo Basin". Palaeontologica Africana. 35: 25–40.
  33. ↑ P.M. Oesterlen (1990). "The geology of the Dande West area (western Cabora Bassa Basin) - a preliminary report". Annals of the Zimbabwe Geological Survey. 14: 12–20.
  34. ↑ D. Love (1997). "The geology of the Chirundu area, Zambezi Valley". Annals of the Zimbabwe Geological Survey. 18: 18–26.