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Pamela Fabrick posted an image in the group What is it? from the myFOSSIL app 2 years, 2 months ago
2 years, 2 months ago2 years, 2 months agoCan anyone help identify? #fossil
Pamela Fabrick posted an image in the group What is it? from the myFOSSIL app 2 years, 2 months ago
Can anyone help identify? #fossil
Where did you find it, riverbed, forest, desert, ect..?
@james-baugh Sorry, no further information. It was given to me.
looks like petrified wood to me
Hi @pamela-fabrick this looks to be either a cycad frond or bennetitalean frond. Do you happen to know the state/province/prefecture? I can’t say much without that info. It is a frond (not wood) and it is gymnosperm (not flowering plants and not fern).
@sameen-zabir Thanks!!
@mackenzie-smith Thanks! Great info!! I believe it was found in Northern Alberta but can’t confirm as it
Was a gift. Sorry, my cat just jumped up! @mackenzie-smith
@pamela-fabrick Ok, yes, Northern Alberta would fit! There are a lot of Cretaceous rocks up there. Sadly though, both cycads and Bennettitales overlap in time then. I will show it to someone more familiar with Mesozoic gymnosperms (I work primarily on Cenozoic angiosperms). I will warn you though that the only way to tell the difference might be with the cuticle (waxy layer of the leaf) and that 1. it needs to be preserved and 2. can usually only be seen with fluorescent microscopy.
@mackenzie-smith Thank you so much for your very informative reply!! Super appreciated!!
@pamela-fabrick No problem! I just checked with my girlfriend (the Mesozoic expert) who said because it has a thick rachis (the stem-y part which is actually a part of the leaf) and thick pinnae (the leafy bits coming off the rachis) it is most likely a cycad. However, she said that Bennettitales cannot be ruled out entirely but there is no cuticle on the specimen. If you wanted to know which cycad or confirm 100% that it is not Bennettitales there may be a publication for Cretaceous plants from Northern Alberta that may have a similar specimen illustrated and would have a full Latin binomial.
@mackenzie-smith Wow! A huge thanks to you and your friend for your expertise!! Hobby collectors like myself really appreciate it!
it’s some sort of fern or something
Thank you!! @nolan-evans