Carpolithes lunatus HICKEY, 1977

Smith, MacKenzie A., Greenwalt, Dale E. & Manchester, Steven R., 2023, Diverse Fruits And Seeds Of The Mid-Eocene Kishenehn Formation, Northwestern Montana, Usa, And Their Implications For Biogeography, Fossil Imprint 79 (1), pp. 37-88 : 51-52

Carpolithes lunatus HICKEY

Text-fig. 6g –p

M a t e r i a l. USNM PAL 621411, 622713, 622294, 623312, 624006, 624179, 624447, 624499, 624509, 624556, 624648, 624684, 624710, 624778, 717434, 717553, 712990, 625251, 625257, 625269, 625286, 625358, 625406, 625485, 625500, 625541, 625560, 625572, 625609, 625618, 625647, 625651, 625661, 625662, 625676, 625752, 625764, 625776, 625783.

L o c a l i t i e s. Dakin, Disbrow Creek, Park and Spring.

D e s c r i p t i o n. Winged seeds with seed body on one side; full seeds ranging from 2.5–5.5 mm long and 0.5– 4.00 mm wide; seed bodies obovate to semi-fusiform, 1.1– 3.3 mm long and 0.3–1.5 mm wide; seed body oblique with proximal end tilting to the ventral side of the wing and distal side tilting to the dorsal side of the wing; seed wings straight or curved with distal end straight or curved proximally; wing finely striate; raphe wrapping around the margin of the wing or turning dorsally near the middle to continue along the margin to the chalazal end of the seed body.

R e m a r k s. Seeds with this morphology match the morphospecies Carpolithes lunatus HICKEY. Such seeds co-occur with or are a constituent of the fruits known as Jenkinsella Rᴇɪᴅ et CHANDLER, Joffrea CRANE et STOCKEY , Nyssidium HEER and are commonly associated with the leaves known as Trochodendroides BERRY ( Crane and Stockey 1985, 1986, Golovneva and Alekseev 2017). Further investigations are needed to differentiate these plants based on seeds (Golovneva and Alekseev 2017). Brown (1939) documented cercidiphyllaceous elements from 30 localities in the western US and Dakotas from Cretaceous through Oligocene.

Figures

Text-fig. 6. a: USNM PAL 625188 cf. Ceratophyllum fruit. Scale bar 1mm. b: USNM PAL 722388 cf. Thalictrum sp. Scale bar 2mm. c: USNM PAL 622299 Platanus sp. achene with prominent seed body. Scale bar 2mm. d: USNM PAL 768140 Platanus sp. achene with dispersal hairs. Scale bar 2mm. e: Close-up of USNM PAL 768140 Platanus sp. achene with red arrows pointing to dispersal hairs. Scale bar 2mm. f: USNM PAL 622299 Platanus sp. achene with red arrows pointing to hairs. Scale bar 2mm. g: USNM PAL 623312 winged seed of Carpolithes lunatus. Scale bar 1mm. h: USNM PAL 625269 winged seed of Carpolithes lunatus. Scale bar 1mm. i: USNM PAL 625257 winged seed of Carpolithes lunatus with highly curved wing. Scale bar 1mm. j: USNM PAL 624499 winged seed of Carpolithes lunatus. Scale bar 1mm. k: USNM PAL 622294 winged seed of Carpolithes lunatus with raphe wrapping along wing towards the chalazal end of the seed body. Scale bar 1mm. l: USNM PAL 717434 winged seed of Carpolithes lunatus with raphe wrapping along wing towards the chalazal end of the seed body. Scale bar 1mm. m: USNM PAL 625251 winged seed of Carpolithes lunatus with raphe wrapping along wing towards the chalazal end of the seed body. Scale bar 1mm. n: USNM PAL 625541 elongated winged seed of Carpolithes lunatus with raphe wrapping along wing towards the chalazal end of the seed body. Scale bar 1mm. o: USNM PAL 625286 elongated winged seed of Carpolithes lunatus. Scale bar 1mm. p: USNM PAL 624179 winged seed of Carpolithes lunatus with raphe wrapping along wing towards the chalazal end of the seed body. Scale bar 1mm. q: USNM PAL 620034 cf. Jenkinsella knowltonii. Scale bar 2mm.