. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology. EUROPTEROID FOLIAGE FROM CARBONIFEROUS AND LOWER PERMIAN. <"ig. 1 Reconstruction of Neuropteris heterophylla, drawn by Mrs. Pauline Dean (prepared for part of the Evolution of Wales | Gallery, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, See Thomas & Cleal 1993:19). ton Bernhardi, 1800 (see Cleal & Shute 1991b), Callipte- idium (Weiss) Zeiller, 1888a, Alethopteris Sternberg, 1825, Lonchopteris Brongniart, 1828, Linopteris Presl, 1838, and Reticulopteris Gothan, 1941. Traditionally, it has been assumed that both the ovuliferous
. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology. EUROPTEROID FOLIAGE FROM CARBONIFEROUS AND LOWER PERMIAN. <"ig. 1 Reconstruction of Neuropteris heterophylla, drawn by Mrs. Pauline Dean (prepared for part of the Evolution of Wales | Gallery, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, See Thomas & Cleal 1993:19). ton Bernhardi, 1800 (see Cleal & Shute 1991b), Callipte- idium (Weiss) Zeiller, 1888a, Alethopteris Sternberg, 1825, Lonchopteris Brongniart, 1828, Linopteris Presl, 1838, and Reticulopteris Gothan, 1941. Traditionally, it has been assumed that both the ovuliferous and microsporangiate fructifications were attached directly to the vegetative fronds, and a number of examples showing this have been described in the literature ( Dix 1932, Darrah 1937, Zodrow & McCandlish 1980). However, there has recently come to light evidence that in some of the trigonocarpaleans they formed more or less complex strobilus-like structures, attached either in an axillary position to the frond, or directly to the cauline axis (Drinnan et al. 1990, Laveine et al. 1991). The individual ovules were often large, robust structures, up to 8 cm long (Gastaldo & Matten 1978), which probably relied on flotation for dispersal. The microsporangia clusters, on the other hand, were mainly small delicate structures, containing either monolete or (in the Potonieaceae) trilete prepollen (Millay & Taylor 1979). The group is not just important as a numerically significant component of the Trigonocarpales (at least as represented in the fossil record). Many species in the neuropteroid complex have proved stratigraphically useful. Preeminent is Neuropt- eris ovata, the base of whose range is the main index to the base of the Westphalian D stage, but many others also play an important role; in the biostratigraphical classification of Carboniferous strata outlined by Cleal (1991), 2 zones and 6 subzones are named after neuropteroid species. It is thus important to
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