''Noeggerathia'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

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 ...

of noeggerathialean

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

that lived during the

Late Carboniferous Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * Late (The 77s album), ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudo ...

and

Early Permian 01 or 01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * '01 (Richard Müller album), ''01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * 01 (Urban Zakapa album), ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''01011 ...

periods.

Description

''Noeggerathia'' could grow to be 3 ft, 3 in tall. It is known for its

compound leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, fl ...

, each possessing two rows of leaflets which composed a 12-inch

frond A frond is a large, divided leaf. In both common usage and botanical nomenclature, the leaves of ferns are referred to as fronds and some botanists restrict the term to this group. Other botanists allow the term frond to also apply to the lar ...

. ''Noeggerathia'' may also have possessed a short trunk. The genus may have possessed

strobili A strobilus (: strobili) is a structure present on many land plant species consisting of sporangia-bearing structures densely aggregated along a stem. Strobili are often called cones, but some botanists restrict the use of the term cone to the woo ...

at the ends of its branches for reproductive purposes. Biseriate

sporophyll In botany, a sporophyll is a leaf that bears sporangia. Both microphylls and megaphylls can be sporophylls. In heterosporous plants, sporophylls (whether they are microphylls or megaphylls) bear either megasporangia and thus are called megasp ...

s existed on either side of the cones. It has been previously suggested that ''Noeggerathiostrobus'' may have been borne at the end of ''Noeggerathias stems. However, it is more likely that ''Noeggerathiostrobus'' was borne closer to the base of ''Noeggerathia''.

Taxonomy

''Noeggerathia'' was named after

Johann Jakob Nöggerath Johann Jakob Nöggerath (also as Johann Jacob Noeggerath) (10 October 1788 – 13 September 1877), German mineralogist and geologist, was born at Bonn. In 1814-1815 he became a commissioner of mines for some of the Rhine provinces, and in 1818 ...

, a

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

from

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 ...

. The genus was described in 1820 by

Kaspar Maria von Sternberg Count Kaspar Maria von Sternberg (also: ''Caspar Maria'', ''Count Sternberg'', , ; 6 January 1761 – 20 December 1838) was a Bohemian aristocrat, theologian, mineralogist, geognost, entomologist and botanist. He is known as the "Father of Paleo ...

. ''Noeggerathia'' and noeggerathialeans in general have been described as difficult to classify as early as 1906 and as recently as 2009. In 1906, the genus was believed to belong to Cycadaceae, a family currently consisting of only ''

Cycas ''Cycas'' is a genus of cycad, and the only genus in the family Cycadaceae with all other genera of cycad being divided between the Stangeriaceae and Zamiaceae families. '' Cycas circinalis'', a species endemic to India, was the first cycad speci ...

''. The species described under ''Noeggerathia'' include the following: *''Noeggerathia dickeri''

Horowitz Horowitz (, ) is a Levitical Ashkenazi surname deriving from the Horowitz family, though it can also be a non-Jewish surname as well. The name is derived from the town of Hořovice, Bohemia. Other variants of the name include Harowitz, Harowicz, ...

*''Noeggerathia foliosa'' Sternb. *''Noeggerathia intermedia'' Feistm. *''Noeggerathia obovata'' Carruth. *''Noeggerathia speciosa'' Ettingsh. *''Noeggerathia zalesskyi'' Fissunenko *''Noeggerathia zamitoides'' Sterzel

Fossil sites

Specimens of ''Noeggerathia'' have been discovered worldwide. As of 1906, ''Noeggerathia'' was known from finds in the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an Coal Measures and was considered rare there. Several well-preserved specimens of ''Noeggerathia'' and related plants have been discovered in the

Bohemian Massif The Bohemian Massif ( or ''Český masiv'', or ''Böhmisches Massiv'') is a geomorphological province in Central Europe. It is a large massif stretching over most of the Czech Republic, eastern Germany, southern Poland and northern Austria. Th ...

, with ''N. foliosa'' having the most complete fossil record in that area. ''N. dickeri'' has been described from the Upper Sandstone Formation of the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai ( ; ; ; ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Afri ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7046790 Pennsylvanian plants Fossil taxa described in 1820 Pennsylvanian first appearances Cisuralian genus extinctions Paleozoic life of Nova Scotia Paleozoic life of Prince Edward Island Prehistoric plant genera