Fungal spores from the Lower Devonian Rhynie Chert are known to harbor a wide variety of parasitic and saprotrophic microfungi. However, only a few of these intrusive organisms have been documented in detail. This paper describes a previously unknown microfungus contained in fungal spores from the Rhynie chert; it consists of tenuous branched filaments and terminal, globose, usually apophysate ...

The earliest known ovules in the Late Devonian (Famennian) are borne terminally on fertile branches and are typically enclosed in a cupule. Among these ovules are some that have terete integumentary lobes with little or no fusion. Here, we report a new taxon, Latisemenia longshania, from the Famennian of South China, which bears cupulate ovules that are terminal as well as opposite on the ferti...

Abstract A relatively complete conodont record from Famennian to the Mississippian/Pennsylvanian boundary was investigated in Anarak section, Central Iran. The studied interval belongs Bahram, Shishtu, Ghaleh and Absheni formations. part of section (Bahram Formation) ranges Palmatolepis triangularis Zone into Bispathodus ultimus Zone. Not all zones could be defined due lack indicative species. ...

Polypterus,a model animal for studying tetrapod evolution The evolutionary transition from aquatic vertebrates to terrestrial tetrapods occurred around 370 million years ago in the late Devonian period. What changes in genome function caused such evolution and led to the development of new organ remains uncertain. We have been investigating the evolution of the tetrapod body plan using a primit...

The fossil record has yielded various gigantic arthropods, in contrast to their diminutive proportions today. The recent discovery of a 46 cm long claw (chelicera) of the pterygotid eurypterid ('sea scorpion') Jaekelopterus rhenaniae, from the Early Devonian Willwerath Lagerstätte of Germany, reveals that this form attained a body length of approximately 2.5 m-almost half a metre longer than pr...

Late Devonian black shale successions in the eastern US contain numerous discontinuities that are characterized by lags containing variable amounts of quartz sand mixed with reworked pyritic and phosphatic debris. These lags can be partially cemented by iron sulfides with a radial fibrous to massive morphology. Examination of iron sulfide cements via electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) show...

The invasion of land by a diverse group of fishlike amphibians during the Middle-Late Devonian was a key event in the history of life. It is obvious that the evolutionary transition from an aquatic to a terrestrial habitat was associated with physiological adaptations such as novel feeding strategies that can not be elucidated with fossils alone. Here we show that two extant vertebrate species,...