Lepidopteris

Lepidopteris is a form genus for leaves of Peltaspermaceae, an extinct family of seed plants, which lived from around 260 to 190 million years ago, from the Late Permian to Early Jurassic. Fossils of the genus have been found across both hemispheres. Nine species are currently recognized.Lepidopteris was a common and widespread seed fern, which survived the Permian-Triassic extinction event but was largely wiped out by the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. Lepidopteris callipteroides is especially common between the first two episodes of the Permian-Triassic extinction event, and L. ottonis forms a comparable acme zone immediately before the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. Lepidopteris would persist into the Early Jurassic in Patagonia, represented by the species Lepidopteris scassoi.

Lepidopteris

Retallack · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
PeltaspermaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 52 million years on record.

The record covers at least 254.14 Mya to 201.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 266.9 Mya to 174.7 Mya.

Permian — about 8 of 128 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 11 of 128 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 24 of 128 occurrencesMiddle TriassicLate Triassic — about 83 of 128 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 2 of 128 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 128 occurrences269–266 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences266–262 Mya — about 1 occurrence262–259 Mya — about 2 occurrences259–256 Mya — about 2 occurrences256–253 Mya — about 2 occurrences253–250 Mya — about 4 occurrences250–246 Mya — about 9 occurrences246–243 Mya — about 11 occurrences243–240 Mya — about 8 occurrences240–237 Mya — about 5 occurrences237–234 Mya — about 10 occurrences234–230 Mya — about 10 occurrences230–227 Mya — about 9 occurrences227–224 Mya — about 6 occurrences224–221 Mya — about 6 occurrences221–218 Mya — about 6 occurrences218–214 Mya — about 6 occurrences214–211 Mya — about 6 occurrences211–208 Mya — about 6 occurrences208–205 Mya — about 7 occurrences205–202 Mya — about 12 occurrences202–198 Mya — about 1 occurrence198–195 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences195–192 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences192–189 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences189–186 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences186–182 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences182–179 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences179–176 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences176–173 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences254.14 Mya201.4 Mya269 Mya173 Mya

128 occurrences of Lepidopteris on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

128 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

34 formations

Molteno — 29.50°S, 29.50°EMolteno — 30.50°S, 29.00°EMolteno — 28.57°S, 29.05°EMolteno — 31.10°S, 26.50°EMolteno — 31.50°S, 28.00°EMolteno — 30.80°S, 26.88°EMolteno — 30.90°S, 26.72°EMolteno — 31.50°S, 27.92°EMolteno — 31.47°S, 26.83°EMolteno — 31.57°S, 26.22°EMolteno — 31.17°S, 28.43°EMolteno — 30.68°S, 28.52°EMolteno — 31.05°S, 26.80°EMolteno — 30.68°S, 26.95°EMolteno — 31.62°S, 27.52°EMolteno — 31.48°S, 26.47°EBurgersdorp — 30.68°S, 26.72°EBurgersdorp — 30.72°S, 26.65°EBurgersdorp — 31.00°S, 27.00°EBurgersdorp — 30.83°S, 26.50°EBurgersdorp — 31.00°S, 26.00°EBurgersdorp — 31.67°S, 27.33°EBurgersdorp — 31.00°S, 26.33°ECape Stewart — 70.50°N, 22.60°WLower Sakamena — 18.80°S, 45.30°ELower Sakamena — 20.40°S, 45.70°ELower Sakamena — 22.50°S, 45.40°EKuroshasaisbaya Suite — 51.70°N, 53.70°EMolteno — 29.50°S, 27.50°EPali — 24.30°N, 82.00°EPali — 24.12°N, 81.86°ETiki — 23.23°N, 82.08°ETiki — 23.84°N, 81.27°ELaleband Suite — 36.40°N, 49.60°EMine — 56.08°N, 12.90°EEl Tranquilo — 48.00°S, 68.00°WPotrerillos — 33.00°S, 69.10°WWenbinshan — 25.50°N, 117.60°EShazhenxi — 31.00°N, 110.60°EJiuligang — 31.00°N, 112.20°ELaohugou — 41.30°N, 119.40°EYangmeilong — 26.10°N, 113.30°EFulongao — 21.80°N, 108.40°EBaiguowan — 26.60°N, 102.20°EYinzhuniangar — 31.00°N, 100.30°ELamaya — 30.00°N, 100.20°EHinjir — 24.30°N, 86.60°EVyatkinskaya Suite — 65.40°N, 56.20°EBukobaiskaya Suite — 51.70°N, 53.70°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Lepidopteris has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 10 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 37 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Lepidopteris and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Lepidopteris and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

560 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 101 sites for Lepidopteris, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

37 references

Each of the 128 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 25 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Lepidopteris

Credit
Retallack
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPeltaspermaceae through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Schimper 1869