''Nicolia'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

fossilized wood Fossil wood, also known as fossilized tree, is wood that is preserved in the fossil record. Over time the wood will usually be the part of a plant that is best preserved (and most easily found). Fossil wood may or may not be petrified, in ...

from the

Late Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the more recent of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''cre ...

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. The type species is ''N. aegyptiaca''.H. N. Andrews. (1970). Index of Generic Names of Fossil Plants, 1820-1965. ''Geological Survey Bulletin'' 1-354

Discovery and naming

The type species ''Nicolia aegyptiaca'' were named in 1842 by

Franz Unger Franz Joseph Andreas Nicolaus Unger (30 November 1800 in ''Gut Amthof'' near village Leutschach in Styria, Austria – 13 February 1870 in Graz) was an Austrian botanist, paleontologist and plant physiologist. Life and work Initially, U ...

.Unger, F. (1842). Synopsis Lignorum Fossilium Plantarum Acramphibryarum. In Endlicher Genera Plantarum Suppl. II, Appendix, pp. 100—102. The first specimens were collected in Egypt and it is often synonymised with '' Sterculioxylon aegypticum''.Édouard Boureau. (1949). Étude paléoxylologique du Sahara (VI). Sur une forme nouvelle de ''Sterculioxylon'' (''Nicolia'') ''aegyptiacum'' (Unger) Krausel, des couches post-éocènes du Tibesti, ''Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Paris'' ser. 2, 21(6): 776-787 The discovery of ''N. caledonica'' suggests the genus existed until the

''Aachenosaurus''

Independently in 1887, the name ''Aachenosaurus'' was created by the scientist (and

abbé ''Abbé'' (from Latin , in turn from Greek , , from Aramaic ''abba'', a title of honour, literally meaning "the father, my father", emphatic state of ''abh'', "father") is the French word for an abbot. It is also the title used for lower-ranki ...

) Gerard Smets based on

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

ized fragments found in the Aachen Formation of

Moresnet Neutral Moresnet (, , , ) was a small Belgium, Belgian–Prussian condominium (international law), condominium in western Europe that existed from 1816 to 1921 and was administered jointly by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (Belgium after ...

(which was a

neutral territory Border control comprises measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it als ...

between

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

). Smets considered that the specimen was a

hadrosaur Hadrosaurids (), also hadrosaurs or duck-billed dinosaurs, are members of the ornithischian family Hadrosauridae. This group is known as the duck-billed dinosaurs for the flat duck-bill appearance of the bones in their snouts. The ornithopod fami ...

reaching an estimated in length which might have had dermal spines. He defended this conclusion, citing that the fossils had been examined visually with the naked eye, magnifying lenses and with the microscope. However, his error was soon demonstrated by

Louis Dollo Louis Antoine Marie Joseph Dollo (; 7 December 1857 – 19 April 1931) was a Belgian palaeontologist, known for his work on dinosaurs. He also posited that evolution is not reversible, known as Dollo's law. Together with the Austrian Othenio Ab ...

. Smets at first tried to defend his original identification but was again proven wrong by a neutral commission. ''Aachenosaurus'' has since been considered to be a synonym of ''Nicolia moresneti''. A synonym of ''Aachenosaurus'' is ''Aachenoxylon'', which was coined by Dr Maurice Hovelacque in 1889/1890.

Species

* ''Nicolia aegyptiaca'' (

Type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

) — Late Cretaceous of Egypt * ''Nicolia caledonica'' — Pleistocene of Ducos Island, New Caledonia * ''Nicolia moresneti —'' Late Cretaceous of Belgium * ''Nicolia tunetana —''

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

* ''Nicolia zealandica''? — Cenozoic of New Zealand. Its placement within ''Nicolia'' has been questioned.

Previously assigned species

* ''Nicolia giarabubensis'' (now ''Sterculioxylon giarabubense'') —

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

of Egypt (

Fayyum Faiyum ( ; , ) is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum Governorate. It is one of Egypt's oldest cities due to its strategic location. Name and etymology Originally f ...

) * ''Nicolia minor'' (now '' Bombacoxylon owenii'') * ''Nicolia oweni'' (now '' Bombacoxylon owenii'') * ''Nicolia wiedemanni'' (now ''Sterculioxylon aegyptiacum'') — Egypt

References

External links

uBio listingNomenclator Zoologicus listing
Late Cretaceous plants Mesozoic trees Fossil taxa described in 1842 Prehistoric angiosperm genera Prehistoric angiosperms {{cretaceous-plant-stub