Cestites

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Cestites
Temporal range: Middle Ordovician to Middle Ordovician
Cestites mirabilis holotype.jpg
Holotype of Cestites mirabilis, from Douglas Lake Member of Lenoir Limestone, at Douglas Dam, Tennessee[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
Division:
Marchantiophyta
Class:
Marchantiopsida
Order:
Marchantiales
Family:
Marchantiaceae
Genus:
Cestites

Caster and Brooks(1956)[2]
Type species

Retallack (2019)

Cestites ("girdle") was at first considered a ctenophore,[2] but now is regarded as genus of liverwort fossil from the Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian, 460 million years old) Douglas Lake Member of the Lenoir Limestone from Douglas Dam Tennessee.[1]

Thallus of Cestites mirabilis with archegoniophores
Interpretaive sketch of Cestites mirabilis
Spore of Cestites mirabilis

Description[]

Cestites has a narrow gametophyte thallus, with a wide midrib and dichotomizing at long intervals. The are parasol shaped and clustered.

Biological affinities[]

Cestites is similar to living Marchantia.

References[]

  1. ^ a b Retallack, G.J. (2019). "Ordovician land plants and fungi from Douglas Dam, Tennessee". The Palaeobotanist. 68: 1–33.
  2. ^ a b Caster, K.E.; Brooks, H.K. (1956). "New fossils from the Canadian–Chazyan (Ordovician) hiatus in Tennessee". Bulletins of American Paleontology. 36: 157–199.
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