Semblant land plants from the Middle Ordovician of the Prague Basin reinterpreted as animals

42 6 Fri, 01/01/1999 - 12:00 December 991 1002 10.1111/1475-4983.00106

KENRICK, P., KVACEK, Z., BENGTSON, S. 1999. Semblant land plants from the Middle Ordovician of the Prague Basin reinterpreted as animals. Palaeontology, 42, 6, 991–1002.

Paul Kenrick, Zlatko Kvacek and Stefan Bengtson Two plant-like fossil are described from the middle Ordovician of the Prague Basin, Czech Republic. Both fossils bear a strong superficial resemblance to early land plants, but anatomical data indicate an affinity with animals. New evidence on internal structure demonstrates that the putative plant Boiophyton pragense Obrhel is a dendroid graptolite. The relationships of other heavily coalified, branched axes found in associated strata are more obscure. Scanning electron microscopy of surface features suggests that these plant-like remains are fossils of the collagenous stipes of gorgonacean octocorals. Wiley Online Library