Ceratophyllum muricatum Chamisso

Na, Yuling, Blanchard, Jane & Wang, Hongshan, 2019, Fruits, seeds and flowers from the Puryear clay pit (middle Eocene Cockfield Formation), western Tennessee, USA, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 49) 23 (3), pp. 1-57 : 6

Ceratophyllum muricatum Chamisso subspecies incertum (Berry) Herendeen, Les and Dilcher 1990

Figure 5

Description. Spiny fruit 11 mm long and 8 mm wide. Lateral spines 2.0– 3.8 mm long.

Number of specimens examined. 2. CONN-Q12- 03, Q12-04.

Remarks. Based on fruit size and the presence of lateral spines, these two specimens from Puryear belong to the same taxon reported by (Berry, 1930, p. 71, pl. 33, figures 7–8) and revised by Herendeen et al. (1990, p. 8, figure 8). Fossil fruits of Ceratophyllum have been reported from the Late Cretaceous of Canada (Serbet et al., 2008) and Mexico (Estrada-Ruiz et al., 2009).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Ceratophyllum muricatum Chamisso subspecies incertum (Berry) Herendeen, Les and Dilcher, 1990: 1) CONN-Q12-03, specimen showing fruit body and lateral spines; 2) CONN-Q12-04, an incomplete fruit showing lateral spines. All scale bars equal 2 mm.