The Alan Sondheim Mail Archive

September 28, 2006


- Neuropteris -


given the length of the necessary excavation and the hiring of actors and
actresses, this damn thing took all night. sorry it's slightly large but
it's worth it. otherwise i wouldn't have taken all day.

http://www.asondheim.org/neuropteris.mp4

and then the dvd drive started acting up and i had to set a restore point
with a vengeance i went back three weeks. then poser gave out and i had to
reinstall. now do i make a registry cleanup? of course.

'It is particularly unfortunate that this, the earliest known Neuropteris
of Nova Scotian Pennsylvanian beds, is represented only by minute frag-
ments which preclude an adequate knowledge of the species. Superficially,
at least, there is a marked resemblance to Mariopteris pygmaea D. White,
which occurs at a much younger horizon. The ultimate pinnae are apparently
short, with relatively broad, lineate rachis (0.34 mm.) and alternative,
triangular-ovate, inflated, coriaceous, neuropteroid pinnules 3 to 5 mm.
long by 2 to 2.5 mm. wide at base, over half of midrib relatively thick,
and three or four pairs of short laterals that are divided once or twice,
of which the lower reach the borders at a right angle; terminal pinnule,
triangular-ovate, 6 to 8 mm. long, assymetrical, with small, obtuse,
rotund, basal lobe on one side. The strongly arched or inflated pinnules
are medially grooved dorsally in lower half of pinnule and depressed
marginally along a narrow border.' - from Carboniferous Rocks and Fossil
Floras of Northern Nova Scotia, W.A. Bell, Ottawa, 1944.

It is remarkable that the Nova Scotian flora is almost identical to the
Pennsylvanian flora I collected as a child; I found and labeled over 700
specimens, including numerous Neuropteris.

http://www.asondheim.org/neuropterisfossil.jpg

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