Weichselia

Weichselia is an extinct genus of fern. They were abundant from the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous. While generally supposed to have affinities to Matoniaceae, some research has suggested that they have closer affinites to the Marattiales, though its morphology is strongly divergent from both of these groups. They are thought to have grown similar to modern tree ferns, with an upright stem topped with a crown of fronds. The genus filled multiple ecological niches, such as being the primary mangrove tree for millions of years.

Weichselia

Ghedoghedo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
FilicalesPBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Streptophyta

Time the record covers

At least 117 million years on record.

The record covers at least 237 Mya to 119.57 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 241.464 Mya to 100.5 Mya.

Middle Triassic — about 1 of 23 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 1 of 23 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 1 of 23 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 1 of 23 occurrencesMiddle JurassicLate Jurassic — about 2 of 23 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 17 of 23 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 0 of 23 occurrences244–239 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences239–235 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences235–230 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences230–225 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences195–191 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences191–186 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences186–181 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences181–176 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences176–171 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences171–166 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences166–161 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences161–156 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences156–151 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences151–147 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences147–142 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences142–137 Mya — about 1 occurrence137–132 Mya — about 1 occurrence132–127 Mya — about 2 occurrences127–122 Mya — about 4 occurrences122–117 Mya — about 3 occurrences117–112 Mya — about 2 occurrences112–107 Mya — about 1 occurrence107–103 Mya — about 1 occurrence103–98 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences237 Mya119.57 Mya244 Mya98 Mya

23 occurrences of Weichselia on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. 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

23 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

11 formations

Cretaceous — 44.65°N, 104.22°WWeald Clay — 51.13°N, 0.35°WWeald Clay — 52.72°N, 1.44°WGilf Kebir — 23.40°N, 25.70°EMashabba — 30.70°N, 33.40°EHatira — 30.54°N, 34.73°ESandgate — 51.00°N, 0.83°WLa Huérguina — 40.06°N, 1.88°WSainte-Barbe Clays — 50.48°N, 3.65°EHimatnagar — 23.63°N, 72.99°EDhrangadhra — 22.61°N, 71.22°EBansa — 23.76°N, 81.46°E

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The named rock units Weichselia has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 7 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Weichselia and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Weichselia and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

495 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 18 sites for Weichselia, 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

17 references

Each of the 23 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. 5 further references are not listed. 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 Weichselia

Credit
Ghedoghedo
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were 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 itFilicales through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Stiehler 1857