Matoniaceae is one of the three

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

of ferns in the

Gleicheniales Gleicheniales is an order of ferns in the subclass Polypodiidae (the leptosporangiate ferns). The Gleicheniales has spore records potentially as early as the Early Carboniferous, but the oldest unambiguous macrofossil records date to the Early ...

order of the

Polypodiopsida The ferns (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta) are a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. They differ from mosses by being vascular, i.e., having specialized tissue ...

class. Fossil records reveal that Matoniaceae ferns were abundant during the

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

era (about 250-million to 66-million years ago), during which they lived on every continent, including

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, with eight genera and 26 species, with the oldest known specimens being from the

Middle Triassic In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epoch (geology), epochs of the Triassic period (geology), period or the middle of three series (stratigraphy), series in which the Triassic system (stratigraphy), system is di ...

of Antarctica. Today the family is much less abundant, and also less diverse, with only two extant genera and four species, which are limited to portions of southeastern Asia. The following diagram shows a likely phylogenic relationship with the other two families of the Gleicheniales.

Extant taxa

* genus ** species ** species * genus ** species ** species

Extinct genera

Some common Mesozoic Matoniaceae genera and a sampling of their species include: * genus ** species ** species * genus ** species ** species ** species ** species ** species * genus * genus Nagalingum & Cantrill: Early Cretaceous Gleicheniaceae and Matoniaceae (Gleicheniales) from Alexander Island, Antarctica
''Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology'' 138 (2006) ** species ** species ** species ** species ** species * genus '' Microdictyon'' * genus *'' Tomaniopteris'' Klavins et al. Fremouw Formation, Middle Triassic, Antarctica *'' Konijnenburgia'' Kvaček et Dašková, 2010 Piedra Clavada Formation, Argentina,

Albian The Albian is both an age (geology), age of the geologic timescale and a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the youngest or uppermost subdivision of the Early Cretaceous, Early/Lower Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch/s ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2549255 Gleicheniales Fern families