Research paperA review of the genus Lycospora

The genus Lycospora is one of the most abundant and most frequently reported Palaeozoic miospore genera. Based upon SEM and light microscopy (including Nomarski illumination) studies of dispersed and in situ mio- and microspores a subdivision of the genus Lycospora is proposed. Seventy-one in situ records of Lycospora have been compared and these data indicate that only twenty-nine dispersed species should validly be assigned to the genus. The study suggests four new synonymies and reports sixty-three species that should be removed from the genus Lycospora. Six morphological groups are proposed; the Lycospora granulata Group, the Lycospora micropapillata Group, the Lycospora brevijuga Group, the Lycospora pellucida Group, the Lycospora uber Group and the Lycospora subtriquetra Group. Each group is named for the first published holotype of dispersed species it contains and includes a list of dispersed and in situ mio- and microspores of Lycospora that comprise it, as well as their measurements. The assignment of species to groups was based purely upon spore morphology and diameter. At least some megaspores fertilized by cingulizonate Lycospora were probably of the Cystosporites giganteus-type borne in strobili assignable to Lepidocarpon and produced by either Lepidodendron or Lepidophloios.

► Proposal of natural classification of lycospores. ► Division of lycospores into six groups. ► Review of all in situ lycospores.