Sawdonia ornata

Sawdonia is an extinct genus of early vascular plants, known from the Upper Silurian to the Lower Carboniferous. Sawdonia is best recognized by the large number of spikes (enations) covering the plant. These are vascular plants that do not have vascular systems in their enations. The first species of this genus was described in 1859 by Sir J. William Dawson and, was originally attributed to the genus Psilophyton. He named this plant Psilophyton princeps. In 1971 Francis Hueber proposed a new genus for this species due to its "Divergent technical characters from the generic description for Psilophyton." The holotype used for description is Dawson Collection Number 48, pro parte, Museum Specimen Number 3243. Sir J. William Dawson Collection, Peter Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

A picture published with the record for Sawdonia ornata. What it shows has not been checked.

Jonathan Chen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

Time the record covers

At least 10 million years on record.

The record covers at least 393.47 Mya to 383.4 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 419.62 Mya to 379 Mya.

Silurian — about 0 of 18 occurrencesDevonian — about 18 of 18 occurrencesDevonian420–419 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences419–418 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences418–416 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences416–415 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences415–413 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences413–412 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences412–411 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences411–409 Mya — about 1 occurrence409–408 Mya — about 1 occurrence408–406 Mya — about 1 occurrence406–405 Mya — about 1 occurrence405–404 Mya — about 1 occurrence404–402 Mya — about 1 occurrence402–401 Mya — about 1 occurrence401–399 Mya — about 1 occurrence399–398 Mya — about 1 occurrence398–396 Mya — about 1 occurrence396–395 Mya — about 1 occurrence395–394 Mya — about 1 occurrence394–392 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences392–391 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences391–389 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences389–388 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences388–387 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences387–385 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences385–384 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences384–382 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences382–381 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences381–380 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences380–378 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences393.47 Mya383.4 Mya420.4 Mya378.2 Mya

18 occurrences of Sawdonia ornata on record, most of them in the Devonian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

18 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

10 formations

Battery Point — 48.83°N, 64.35°WBattery Point — 48.82°N, 64.47°WBattery Point — 48.85°N, 64.38°WLerbekk — 62.58°N, 11.33°EStrathmore — 55.00°N, 4.00°WStrathmore — 56.25°N, 4.23°WSextant — 51.00°N, 82.00°WOneonta sh & ss — 42.38°N, 74.27°WMapleton Sandstone — 46.00°N, 68.02°WBathurst Island — 76.92°N, 99.42°WGres (et schists) de Wepion — 50.00°N, 5.00°ECampbellton — 48.00°N, 66.00°WDundee — 56.00°N, 4.00°W

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The named rock units Sawdonia ornata has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Sawdonia ornata and its relatives

Devonian

Where Sawdonia ornata and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.

Found in the same rock

26 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 16 sites for Sawdonia ornata, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

11 references

Each of the 18 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Sawdonia ornata

Credit
Jonathan Chen
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.