Osmundaceae

Osmundaceae is a family of ferns containing four to six extant genera and 18–25 known species. It is the only living family of the order Osmundales in the class Polypodiopsida (ferns) or in some classifications the only order in the class Osmundopsida. This is an ancient and fairly isolated group that is often known as the "flowering ferns" because of the striking aspect of the ripe sporangia in Claytosmunda, Osmunda, Osmundastrum, and Plensium. In these genera the sporangia are borne naked on non-laminar pinnules, while Todea and Leptopteris bear sporangia naked on laminar pinnules. Ferns in this family are larger than most other ferns.

Osmundaceae

Christian Fischer · 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
PolypodiopsidaPBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 323 million years on record.

The record covers at least 323.4 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 358.86 Mya to 0 Mya.

Devonian — about 0 of 964 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 5 of 964 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 20 of 964 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 18 of 964 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 18 of 964 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 126 of 964 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 134 of 964 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 102 of 964 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 49 of 964 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 91 of 964 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 148 of 964 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 92 of 964 occurrencesEocene — about 59 of 964 occurrencesOligocene — about 10 of 964 occurrencesMiocene — about 56 of 964 occurrencesPliocene — about 15 of 964 occurrencesPleistocene — about 20 of 964 occurrences366–354 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences354–342 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences342–329 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences329–317 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences317–305 Mya — about 3 occurrences305–293 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences293–281 Mya — about 1 occurrence281–268 Mya — about 6 occurrences268–256 Mya — about 10 occurrences256–244 Mya — about 22 occurrences244–232 Mya — about 33 occurrences232–220 Mya — about 40 occurrences220–207 Mya — about 38 occurrences207–195 Mya — about 66 occurrences195–183 Mya — about 56 occurrences183–171 Mya — about 71 occurrences171–159 Mya — about 81 occurrences159–146 Mya — about 36 occurrences146–134 Mya — about 10 occurrences134–122 Mya — about 10 occurrences122–110 Mya — about 43 occurrences110–98 Mya — about 40 occurrences98–85 Mya — about 26 occurrences85–73 Mya — about 22 occurrences73–61 Mya — about 163 occurrences61–49 Mya — about 51 occurrences49–37 Mya — about 22 occurrences37–24 Mya — about 16 occurrences24–12 Mya — about 43 occurrences12–0 Mya — about 51 occurrences323.4 Mya11.7 ka366 Mya0 Mya

964 occurrences of Osmundaceae on record, most of them in the Late Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. 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

964 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

252 formations

Monte Chico — 51.59°S, 72.41°WMonte Chico — 51.18°S, 72.29°WChorrillo — 50.50°S, 72.56°WCape Stewart — 70.50°N, 22.60°WHidden Lake — 63.87°S, 57.99°WFort Union — 47.97°N, 102.55°WFort Union — 46.48°N, 105.67°WFort Union — 44.71°N, 106.17°WFort Union — 44.83°N, 106.09°WRajmahal — 25.24°N, 87.71°ERajmahal — 25.23°N, 87.49°ERajmahal — 24.54°N, 87.57°ERajmahal — 25.08°N, 87.74°ERajmahal — 25.14°N, 87.50°ERajmahal — 20.52°N, 85.63°ELefipán — 42.58°S, 69.98°WLefipán — 42.67°S, 69.83°WTambo — 27.34°S, 135.72°ETambo — 29.13°S, 140.88°ECerro Cazador — 51.59°S, 72.41°WCerro Cazador — 51.18°S, 72.22°WCloughton — 54.30°N, 0.40°WCloughton — 54.17°N, 0.25°WKachaike — 49.15°S, 72.07°WKachaike — 49.06°S, 72.14°WKachaike — 48.82°S, 72.12°WKachaike — 49.00°S, 72.00°WKachaike — 48.85°S, 72.15°WHuitrera — 42.50°S, 70.00°WCerro Dorotea — 51.59°S, 72.41°WRunnymede — 37.37°S, 140.90°ERío Turbio — 51.28°S, 72.16°WRío Turbio — 51.60°S, 72.30°WRío Turbio — 51.47°S, 72.23°WOcal — 2.62°N, 75.53°WCullen — 52.87°S, 68.41°WCullen — 53.00°S, 68.67°WLa Colonia — 43.02°S, 67.66°WLa Colonia — 43.01°S, 67.62°WLa Colonia — 42.97°S, 67.54°WSaltwick — 54.30°N, 0.40°WSaltwick — 54.37°N, 1.25°WSaltwick — 54.33°N, 0.50°WScalby — 54.30°N, 0.40°WHongqi — 42.80°N, 126.40°EHongqi — 48.00°N, 122.80°EWasatch — 39.53°N, 107.78°WWasatch — 44.63°N, 106.17°WWasatch — 44.71°N, 106.17°WChenque — 45.86°S, 67.57°WChenque — 45.30°S, 69.03°WRio Mayer — 49.06°S, 72.14°WRio Mayer — 48.82°S, 72.12°W

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The named rock units Osmundaceae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 228 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 309 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Osmundaceae and its relatives

Late Cretaceous

Where Osmundaceae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

980 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 629 sites for Osmundaceae, and this reads 240 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

252 references

Each of the 964 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. 240 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 Osmundaceae

Credit
Christian Fischer
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 itPolypodiopsida through timeFormations of the Late CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Berchtold and Presl