Dorinnotheca streelii Fairon-Demaret, gen. et sp. nov., a new early seed plant from the upper Famennian of Belgium

Abstract

Dorinnotheca streelii Fairon-Demaret, gen. et sp. nov. is described from three upper Famennian localities in Belgium. This new early seed plant bears cupules hanging singly at the tips of the slender ultimate axes of a pinnately branched system. Each cupule encloses a single, centrally located preovule with four free integumentary lobes. At the base of the fertile unit, the cupule segments are fused for a quarter of their total length; higher up they are free, recurved and highly dissected. The integumentary lobes appear joined to the fused part of the cupule segments. The preovule is sessile; at the apex, the nucellus shows a long, tubular, salpinx-like extension. This distinctive type of organisation is discussed in relation to the other Late Devonian preovulate structures from which it appears different.