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Loxopterygium laplayense
Taxonomy
Loxopterygium laplayense was named by Burnham and Carranco (2004). It is considered to be a form taxon. Its type specimen is EPN 1054, a seed/fruit (fruit), and it is a compression fossil.
Synonymy list
| Year | Name and author |
|---|---|
| 2004 | Loxopterygium laplayense Burnham and Carranco |
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If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.
†Loxopterygium laplayense Burnham and Carranco 2004
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Diagnosis
| Reference | Diagnosis | |
|---|---|---|
| R. J. Burnham and N. L. Carranco 2004 | The fossil specimens represent fruits with a single proximal locule and a distal wing, expanding from the side of the ovary wall. The remnant of the stigma is present medially on the backbone of the wing. In two specimens (EPN 885 and 1054) the stigma bears two minute lobes (Figs. 4–6). The pedicel of the fruit and calyx remnant are preserved at the proximal end of the locule, indicating orientation of the fruit, relative to the parent plant. The fruits range in length from 9.0 to 16.0 mm from pedicel attachment to wing tip. At their broadest point, the fruits are 2.6–5.5 mm wide. The locules are oblong in shape, rounded proximally and distally, ranging in length from 4.0 to 6.0 mm and in width from 2.0 to 4.0 mm. The boundary between the locule and the wing is clearly marked in most
specimens due to crushing of the originally spherical, resistant endocarp. During fossilization, fracturing of the wall of the locule results in a quadrangular pattern over the locule wall in some specimens. This pattern is entirely absent from the wing of the fruit. Obliquely parallel venation is visible on the locule. A strong vein, originating from the attachment point and running obliquely to the backbone, divides the locule into two parts (the side close to the backbone and the side away from the backbone). This vein, in well-preserved specimens, amplifies the difference in the spacing of the primary veins on the locule wall of these two sectors. On the side of the locule close to the backbone, the veins are typically more widely spaced (with the widest spacing up to ;0.5 mm) than on the side away from the backbone. The area between the veins of the locule on the side away from backbone is devoid of the quadrangular pattern. The wing bears angled primary veins, which are parallel to the shape of the backbone and parallel to one another. These veins originate at the proximal portion of the locule and can extend to the wing margin. The veins are densely distributed near the backbone of the wing and spread laterally as they approach the distal edge of the wing. The primary veins terminate anywhere from two-thirds of the length to the wing tip up to the end of the wing tip. These veins spread out and diminish in thickness as they approach the wing margin. The veins are particularly faint on the side of the wing opposite the backbone. Only rarely do the main wing veins end in the occasional small serrations on the wing tip. The primary veins do not anastomose, and primary vein branching is rare in the fossil specimens (generally no more than 2–4 primary veins branch per specimen). The fossils have a smooth margin along the wing, with the exception of the wing tip. At the wing tip, the margin varies from erose to serrate. |