Sphenopteris mira KIDST., 1923

Cleal, Christopher J., Strullu-Derrien, Christine & Spencer, Alan R. T., 2024, Early Coal Swamp Vegetation From The Serpukhovian Lower Clackmannan Group Of Scotland, Fossil Imprint 80 (1), pp. 35-67 : 49

Sphenopteris mira KIDST., 1923

Text-fig. 7d

1923 Sphenopteris mira KIDST. , p. 138, pl. 30, fig. 2.

D e s c r i p t i o n. A single specimen showing part of a bipinnate segment. Pinnules alternately attached to ultimate rachis; pinnules small, subrhomboidal, 3‒5 mm long, each with 3‒6 narrow linear segments. A single vein enters each pinnule segment.

R e m a r k s. Only one specimen of this small-pinnuled species is known from Scotland ( Kidston 1923: pl. 30, fig. 2) but it has also been described from the Serpukhovian of Upper Silesia ( Purkyňová 1970). There are no distinctive features that allow it to be definitely placed in a particular fossil-genus and so provisionally it has been retained in its original fossil-genus.

O c c u r r e n c e. Rare in Upper Limestone Formation, only reported from below the Orchard Limestone at New Braidbar Quarry, Renfrewshire.

Figures

Text-fig. 7. a: Sphenopteris elegans (BRONGN.) STERNB.; Cuthill Shore (near highwater mark) between Musselburgh and Prestonpans, Haddingtonshire; between Nos 4 and 5 Limestones, Upper Limestone Formation; BGS Kidst.3816. b: Sphenopteris dicksonioides (GÖPP.) C.E.WEISS; No. 6 Pit, Grange, Bo’ness, Linlithgowshire; above Red Coal, Limestone Coal Formation; BGS Kidst.781. c: Sphenopteris taitiana KIDST.; Cuthill Shore between Musselburgh and Prestonpans, Haddingtonshire; between Nos 4 and 5 Limestones, Upper Limestone Formation; BGS Kidst.341. d: Sphenopteris mira KIDST.; New Braidbar Quarry, Giffnock, East Renfrewshire; below Orchard Limestone, Upper Limestone Formation; BGS Kidst.2416. e: Sphenopteridium dissectum (GÖPP.) SCHIMP.; Swinless Glen, Dalry, Ayrshire; above Garibaldi Ironstone, Limestone Coal Formation; BGS Kidst.5320. All scale bars = 10 mm.