Ronny Rößler- Prof. Dr.
- Director at Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz
Ronny Rößler
- Prof. Dr.
- Director at Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz
About
351
Publications
145,305
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Introduction
I am a geologist/palaeontologist interested in fossil forests and their various pathways to be preserved. Current research mainly concerns the composition, ecology and interactions of plants, animals and microorganisms in late Paleozoic ecosystems. My studies, usually accompanied by broad international cooperation, specifically focus on the morphology, anatomy, evolution and taphonomy of early Permian plants and arthropods and the role of volcanism in providing exceptional fossil assemblages.
Current institution
Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz
Current position
- Director
Additional affiliations
April 1995 - July 2022
Position
- Honorary Professor in Palaeobotany
Description
- Since 1995 I have been offering academic teaching in palaeobotany at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, initially as a lecturer, since 2003 as private lecturer, since 2015 as a visiting professor and since 2017 as honorary professor of Palaeobotany.
Publications
Publications (351)
In-situ fossil forests are valuable biogenic archives for the structure and setting of paleocommunities and the ecology of their organisms. Here, we present the first trees preserved in growth position in their embedding strata from the Kungurian (lower Permian) Athesian Volcanic Group, Northern Italy—one of the most extensive volcanic successions...
Wetlands are important to continental evolution, providing both arenas and refugia for emerging and declining biotas. This significance and the high preservation potential make the resulting fossiliferous deposits essential for our understanding of past and future biodiversity. We reconstruct the trophic structure and age of the early Permian Maneb...
This book will cover the entire evolutionary history that the terrestrial plants have recorded in Brazilian sedimentary rocks, ranging from the first vestiges of terrestrial environments colonization about 400 million years ago, until reaching the eve of the present time, when the current vegetation formations were organizing to reach their current...
We present new zircon U–Pb chemical abrasion–isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA–ID–TIMS) ages of two Late Carboniferous–early Permian continental basins in Germany. Three volcanic rocks from the Döhlen Basin (Saxony), and two tuff samples of the Thuringian Forest Basin (Thuringia) were dated. Our data indicate that all four f...
This book is a unique contribution that allows the reader to glimpse how the evolution of land plants developed in the lowlands of South America, from the first plants recorded in the Paleozoic to the current floristic diversity originating in the Amazon region.
To this end, 32 chapters elaborated by the best Brazilian paleobotanists and paly-
nolo...
Der Hornstein von Priefel-Ein Fossilvorkommen aus dem Perm bei Altenburg Jörn Lies, Leipzig und Ronny Rößler, Chemnitz Kurzfassung Der Beitrag stellt Hornsteine aus dem südöstlichen Altenburger Raum vor, die in der Literatur bisher keine Erwäh-nung gefunden haben. Nach der groben Einordnung des Materials sollen herausragende Funde fossiler Pflanzen...
Since its appearance on land in the early Paleozoic, life has conquered the continents with astonishing diversity. From the deepest caves to the atmosphere, numerous evolutionary innovations such as active flight or seeds paved the way for life beyond water. However, we still have a rough idea of the timelines of terrestrialization, mainly because...
The evolutionary success of the Holometabola was primarily related to drastic changes in body structures between larvae, pupae and adults. This enabled the Holometabola to exploit a wide range of habitats during different ontogenetic stages. A unique adaptation of tiny, grub-like holometabolous larvae is leaf mining, which provides access to inner...
In the Parnaíba Basin in central-north Brazil, the Pedra de Fogo and Motuca formations were deposited during the Permian. In this period, the paleoclimate was probably arid to semiarid but with phases of more humid influence, which allowed for the growth of a lush forest. Today, the fossil woods of this forest are scattered in outcrops in the Maran...
In north-central Brazil, the Cisuralian of the Parnaíba Basin bears very beautiful and well-preserved petrified tree fern stems and leaves. Some are found in inland sea/lacustrine deposits of the Pedra de Fogo Formation, but the majority are in
fluvial system deposits of the lower Motuca Formation. Sedimentation probably occurred in semi-arid condi...
The book "Die Rotliegend-Fauna des Thüringer Waldes" was published in April 2024 as a special publication by Semana in A4 format by the Natural History Museum Schleusingen (editors: Ralf Werneburg and Joerg W. Schneider). 18 authors present the fauna of the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian of the Thuringian Forest Basin (Germany) in 19 chapter...
The book "Die Rotliegend-Fauna des Thüringer Waldes" was published in April 2024 as a special publication by Semana in A4 format by the Natural History Museum Schleusingen (editors: Ralf Werneburg and Joerg W. Schneider). 18 authors present the fauna of the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian of the Thuringian Forest Basin (Germany) in 19 chapter...
The book "Die Rotliegend-Fauna des Thüringer Waldes" was published in April 2024 as a special publication by Semana in A4 format by the Natural History Museum Schleusingen (editors: Ralf Werneburg and Joerg W. Schneider). 18 authors present the fauna of the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian of the Thuringian Forest Basin (Germany) in 19 chapter...
The book "Die Rotliegend-Fauna des Thüringer Waldes" was published in April 2024 as a special publication by Semana in A4 format by the Natural History Museum Schleusingen (editors: Ralf Werneburg and Joerg W. Schneider). 18 authors present the fauna of the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian of the Thuringian Forest Basin (Germany) in 19 chapter...
The chapter describes and illustrates the rare fossil arachnids found in the Lower Permian Rotliegend of the Thuringian Forest Basin, central Germany.
La flore autunienne de Gipcy (Permien inférieur du bassin de Bourbon-l'Archambault) est pour la première fois décrite et figurée. Cette flore bien conservée comprend essentiellement des stromatolithes silicifiés, des tiges perminéralisées de Calamites Suckow identifiées comme Arthropitys Goeppert, des racines de Psaronius Cotta, et des morceaux de...
Die kohleführende Manebach-Formation zählt zu den weltweit bedeutendsten Archiven kontinentaler Ökosysteme des frühen Perms. Trotz ihrer bis in das späte 17. Jahrhundert zurückreichenden Erforschung sind Teile der Abfolge noch wenig verstanden. Zu den jüngsten Nachweisen zählen mikrobielle Gesteine, die im Rahmen eines von der Deutschen Forschungsg...
Endophytic oviposition, the reproductive behavior of insects to insert eggs into dead or living plant tissue, and exophytic oviposition, the deposition of eggs on plants, are only rarely documented from the Pennsylvanian. In the present paper, ten oviposition types from the Piesberg quarry near Osnabrück, Germany (Osnabrück Formation, Middle Pennsy...
Fossil stromatolites enclosing structurally preserved land plant remains have rarely been documented and studied in detail. Permineralized woody Tylodendron sp. conifer axes (slender stems, branches) from a lacustrine sedimentary sequence in the lower Permian fossil Lagerstätte of Manebach (Thuringian-Forest Basin, central Germany) are frequently s...
Ein Thuja-ähnliches Holz, cf. Taxodioxylon (aff. Thuja L.), aus dem Nördlinger Ries und Szenarien der paläobiogeografischen Evolution Kurzfassung Es wird ein fossiles Holz, cf. Taxodioxylon (aff. Thuja L.), aus der Bunten Brekzie des Nördlinger Ries-Impaktes in Bay-ern vorgestellt. Die Beschreibung basiert auf zwei xylitischen Hölzern, die mittels...
Ein Thuja-ähnliches Holz, cf. Taxodioxylon (aff. Thuja L.), aus dem Nördlinger Ries und Szenarien der paläobiogeografischen Evolution Kurzfassung Es wird ein fossiles Holz, cf. Taxodioxylon (aff. Thuja L.), aus der Bunten Brekzie des Nördlinger Ries-Impaktes in Bay-ern vorgestellt. Die Beschreibung basiert auf zwei xylitischen Hölzern, die mittels...
Die aus dem Holz jungpaläozoischer Koniferen bekannte, von den Larven früher polyphager Käfer verursachte Fraßspur Pectichnus multicylindricus wird mit neuen Funden für weitere drei Vorkommen karbonischer und permischer Sedimentationsbecken in Mittel-und Südosteuropa belegt. Damit kann die stratigraphische Reichweite ihres Erstauftretens bis in das...
Premise of research. In our modern flora, the Cycadales represent one of the oldest-known gymnosperm clades, with their evolutionary roots tracing back to the late Paleozoic. Their radiation and wide distribution in the Mesozoic are well documented by numerous fossils. In contrast, the fossil record of late Paleozoic forms is restricted to a few sp...
Late Paleozoic (Variscan) magmatism is widespread in Central Europe. One of the critical areas that contributes to the understanding of the complex volcanotectonic processes at the Pennsylvanian to Cisuralian transition is the Chemnitz-Flöha Volcanic Zone (CFVZ). The latter is part of the type region of the Saxo-Thuringian Zone of the European Vari...
Large-winged blattoids of the Middle to Late Pennsylvanian reveal a striking appearance, diversification, and decline in the fossil record. Among them, the families Necymylacridae Durden, 1969, and Gyroblattidae Durden, 1969, as well as the mylacrid genus Opsiomylacris exhibit, the largest pre-Cenozoic blattoids with forewing lengths up to 7.5 cm....
U-Pb isotope ages from magmatic zircon grains are provided for different volcanic rocks of the NW Saxonian Volcanic Basin within the Rochlitz and Wurzen volcanic systems. Measurements were obtained with LA-ICP-MS and revealed late Pennsylvanian to early Cisuralian ages (301–299 Ma). For the Rochlitz Volcanic System supereruption, we present for the...
Pflanzenfossilien sind einzigartige Dokumente aus dem Archiv der Erde. Dass sich nichts in gleicher Weise wiederholt, man "…nicht zweimal in denselben Fluss steigen kann…", wissen wir spätestens seit 2500 Jahren von Heraclit. Diese Symbolik gilt aber auch für all jene Naturgeschichte, die sich ereignete, bevor der Mensch die Erde betrat. Die hier v...
A temporary outcrop in Chemnitz-Gablenz provided a rich Rotliegend flora, recovered in spring 2022 at the level of the Grüna Tuff at the base of the Planitz Formation (Chemnitz Basin). The flora is dominated by the foliage of the tree fern Scolecopteris hemitelioides. Numerous other hygro-, meso- and xerophilous elements complete the picture of an...
Recently, the forgotten fossil wood collection of Dresden’s pathologist and patron Paul Geipel was rediscovered. Today, the collection is stored at the Museum and Art Collections Schloss Hinterglauchau, Germany, as part of the Prof. Dr. Paul Geipel Foundation. The collection may be one of the largest and most important former private collections of...
Pleuromeia was an unbranched succulent lycopod of the Middle/Upper
Buntsandstein. It reached a maximum height of about two metres
and was widely distributed over the supercontinent Pangaea. Fossil
remains emerged only from casts and imprints of the rooted rhizome-bearing
stems, leaves and fructification organs. After the largest mass
extinction in...
Tubicaulis ist eine sehr seltene Gattung paläozoischer Farne. Die auf der Anatomie und internen Gefäßarchitektur begründeten Merkmale vereinen in Zellerhaltung überlieferte Achsen, in deren Zentrum sich eine Protostele befindet. Diese hat ein exarches, d. h. an der Peripherie verortetes Protoxylem. Gesäumt wird die Stele von einer dünnen Rinde, in...
Die 1885 nach Chemnitz gelangte ägyptische Mumie des Nes-Hor mit Sarg war kürzlich nach jahrzehntelanger Ausleihe an das Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz zurückgekehrt. Neben den in der Zwischenzeit erfolgten, unpublizierten ägyptologischen Untersuchungen werden erste angestellte Recherchen und Beobachtungen zu Fragen des gesamten Ensembles diskutier...
By colonizing drylands, plants fundamentally changed continental deposition and, thus, intensified the interaction between life and sediments. Fossil large woody debris in epiclastic strata is a key archive of this environmental turnover, although its interpretation remains challenging due to taphonomic biases. We review voluminous fluvial red-bed...
Freizeitforscherinnen und -forscher haben die Chemnitzer Naturkunde von Beginn an entscheidend geprägt uns stets bereichert. Dieser Wissenschaftstradition folgend startete das Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz 2019 ein Forschungsprojekt zur Entschlüsselung der Fossilwerdung von Wäldern unter Einbezug von Bürgerinnen
und Bürgern. Die Erfahrungen und Er...
In 2019 and 2021, Bunte Breccia have been documented and sampled in two
excavations in Nattheim, 31 km from the centre of the Ries impact. Ballistically
ejected, strongly shocked crystalline rocks and overburden components of the
presumed crater rim are found. Local material such as the Brenztal-Trummerkalk
and Tertiary sediments are widely represe...
Freizeitforscherinnen und -forscher haben die Chemnitzer Naturkunde von Beginn an entscheidend geprägt und stets bereichert. Dieser Wissenschaftstradition folgend startete das Museum für Naturkunde Chemnitz 2019 ein Forschungsprojekt zur Entschlüsselung der Fossilwerdung von Wäldern unter Einbezug von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern. Die Erfahrungen und Er...
In 2019 and 2021, Bunte Breccia have been documented and sampled in two excavations in Nattheim, 31 km from the centre of the Ries impact. Ballistically ejected, strongly shocked crystalline rocks and overburden components of the presumed crater rim are found. Local material such as the Brenztal-Trummerkalk and Tertiary sediments are widely represe...
A new zatracheid temnospondyl adds to the fossil-rich T0
assemblage of the Chemnitz Fossil Lagerstätte (Chemnitz Basin,
Sakmarian–Artinskian transition). The skeleton was found in basal air-fall tuffs of the Zeisigwald Tuff (Leukersdorf Formation)
and consists of the almost complete skull roof in dorsal view, parts of the occiput, fore and hind lim...
A new zatracheid temnospondyl adds to the fossil-rich T0 assemblage of the Chemnitz Fossil Lagerstätte (Chemnitz Basin, Sakmarian–Artinskian transition). The skeleton was found in basal air-fall tuffs of the Zeisigwald Tuff (Leukersdorf Formation) and consists of the almost complete skull roof in dorsal view, parts of the occiput, fore and hind lim...
In the Chemnitz Basin (Saxony, central Germany), up to 1,500 m thick early Permian sediments with intercalated, predominantly acidic pyroclastics were deposited. Numerous fossil records allow a biostratigraphic correlation of the strata with other early Permian successions of the middle Variscides. Significant floral and faunal elements were found...
Our understanding of fossil floras through geological time is mainly based on various differently preserved plant parts, often found isolated under restricted taphonomic circumstances. Preservation of whole plants is exceptionally rare in the geological record but provides the most reliable proof of ancient plants, especially those lacking a neares...
Time indications for the correlation and calibration of the Rotliegend of Germany are integrated and presented in a new way. The correlations are based on the visual balance of bio- and ecostratigraphic indications and radio-isotopic age determinations (RIA), whereby confidence limits, equivalent to those of the RIA, are applied also for other time...
Zusammenfassung von Grabungsergebnissen im Unterperm von Crock (Südthüringen)
Seit über einem Jahrhundert gilt die Region Winnweiler am Donnersberg als klassisches Fundgebiet strukturerhaltener, verkieselter Hölzer. Auf Grundlage von Sammlungsmaterial und einer Grabung charakterisiert diese Arbeit die Sedimentarchitekturen und Stratigraphie der Wirtsgesteine und erhellt die Erhaltung, botanische Natur und Fossilwerdung der i...
Zeigt die fossile Eiche Quercinium pliocaenicum makroskopische Anzeichen von Kernfäule durch Weißfäulepilze? Ausgangspunkt ist ein kurzer Überblick über den Metabolismus der Fäulnispilze unter Bevorzugung von Lignin oder Zellulose sowie die Fähigkeit der Bäume, sich in bedingtem Maße dagegen zu schützen (CODIT). Davon ausgehend werden Stücke einer...
Gablenz, heute Stadtteil von Chemnitz, war im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert Schauplatz bergmännischer Exploration auf Steinkohlen und umfangreicher geologischer Erkundungen. Ein Neuaufschluss im Grüna-Tuff im Jahre 2020 ist Anlass, die Historie der Steinkohlenerkundung in Gablenz zu recherchieren und darzustellen. Der Neuaufschluss wird beschrieben und i...
In the last years, the Piesberg quarry became one of the most important fossil Lagerstätten of Middle Pennsylvanian insects. Nevertheless, bearing in mind the vast material provided here, little is known about relations between arthropods and plants. Intensive collecting revealed a range of plant-arthropod interactions. As a result, at least 14 dam...
Since the Middle Devonian woody debris has formed a significant component in vegetated continental ecosystems and depositional settings. Compared to other plant tissues, lignified matter has greater mechanical stability and chemical resistance, thanks to its composition and structure. As a result, wood can attain high retention times in depositiona...
The years 2020 and 2021 were marked worldwide by the corona
pandemic with restrictions on fieldwork at home and abroad, with
limited personal communication and restricted access to fossil
and rock collections. Still, remarkable progress has been made
by the international team of our working group as shown below
by a number of publications, the part...
A new petrified calamitalean is described from the Permian Motuca Formation, Parnaíba Basin, central-north Brazil. In contrast to all other three-dimensionally preserved Brazilian species, it represents a semi-self-supporting woody plant characterized by a distinctive branch system and cellular anatomy. Arthropitys buritiranensis sp. nov. is propos...
One of the youngest known occurrences of anatomically preserved Sphenophyllum Brongniart 1828 is reported from the Permian Motuca Formation, Parnaíba Basin, central-north Brazil. At least 31 stems of this extinct sphenophyte, which are densely interwoven to each other and associated with tiny roots and leaves, occur in a silicified state within the...
Silicified woods found on fields near Winnweiler, SW-Germany, provide unique three-dimensional insights into the anatomy of late Paleozoic gymnosperms. However, little is known about the fossils’ origin impeding further research. Based on an excavation at the Zuckerwald locality, we characterise the host rocks and palaeobotanical nature of the petr...
Fossil forests provide some of the most fascinating and compelling records of the geological past. If rapidly preserved in-situ, they yield multifaceted knowledge about the environment and habitat structure, diversity of organisms and their varied interrelationships. Further, fossil forests shed light on palaeoclimatic conditions and taphonomic pat...
Silicified wood is one of the most frequent and insightful records of ancient life since the Devonian. Although cellular anatomy is often preserved in great detail, alterations of organic matter occur during fossilization modifying tissue properties. Due to taphonomic pathways, plant tissues experience multiple changes, which may cause a tissue-vol...
The medullosans represent a diverse group of pteridosperms that was widely distributed in forested landscapes of the late Paleozoic. These plants became widely known from the extensive tropical lowland basins of Euramerica, where they grew as slender plants with large fronds and fern-like foliage. Besides, there also exist medullosans of Late Penns...
The correlation of late Palaeozoic eruption centres situated at the northwestern margin of the Erzgebirge (Saxothuringian Zone, Germany) with the regional post-Variscan magmatism has as yet remained unresolved. Our study focuses on the petrography, geochemistry, and the formation age of the Obermühlbach volcano as one of these eruption centres. The...
Reinsdorf near Zwickau is one of the most important sites of the Rotliegend flora in the Chemnitz Basin and type locality of stratigraphically significant plant fossils. The historical site has been rediscovered, partially exposed and geologically documented. The Zwickau Upper Carboniferous is overlain by the Rotliegend base conglomerate in the Che...
Die Silifizierung permineralisierter und petrifizierter fossiler Pflanzen (Psaronius, Agathoxylon) aus dem frühen Perm Mitteleuropas wurde mittels Rückstreuelektronenbeugung am Rasterelektronenmikroskop (EBSD) hinsicht-lich der Bildung von Chalzedon und Quarz untersucht. Die Proben stammen aus unterschiedlichen vulkanischen und sedimentären Ablager...
The correlation of late Palaeozoic eruption centres situated at the northwestern margin of the Erzgebirge (Saxothuringian Zone, Germany) with the regional post-Variscan magmatism has as yet remained unresolved. Our study focuses on the petrography, geochemistry, and the formation age of the Obermühlbach volcano as one of these eruption centres. The...
Silicified gymnospermous woods are presented from Canitz-Nord open kaolin pit near Meißen. The investigation area is situated in the middle Elbe Zone, a region characterised by several intrusive and extrusive Carboniferous magmatites in Saxony (E-Germany). The up to several metres long trunk fragments were transported and buried by repeated plastic...
Successful evolutionary forms are characterized by their longevity in the fossil record. There are many plant groups that exhibit these traits; here we have selected the ferns as one acknowledged evolutionary model. Ferns are the most successful cryptogamic plants in geologic history and are known from nearly all fossil floras since their first app...
The assembly of the supercontinent Pangea resulted in a paleoequatorial region known as Euramerica, a northern mid-to-high latitude region called Angara, and a southern high paleolatitudinal region named Gondwana. Forested peat swamps, extending over hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, grew across this supercontinent during the Mississippia...
A walk in the Carboniferous-and-Permian woods of the Late Paleozoic, a time known as the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA), would not be a walk in the woods comparable to today’s Holocene forests. The vegetation that colonized and inhabited the landscapes during glacial and interglacial episodes are non-analogs with the world we witness around us. Unli...
Petrified woods from the Kyffhäuser (Siebigerode Fm., Saale Basin) are among Germany’s most voluminous occurrences of petrified trees. We reconstruct the provenance and fossilisation of the silicified logs and accompanying fossil plants based on sediment architectures documented in 15 quarries, plant-anatomical analyses of 112 specimens from eight...
Die Kieselhölzer des Kyffhäusers (Siebigerode-Fm., Saale-Becken) repräsentieren eines der umfangreichsten Vorkommen versteinerter Bäume in Deutschland. Wir rekonstruieren die Herkunft und Fossilwerdung der versteinerten Bäume sowie weiterer Florenreste anhand der Dokumentation ihrer einbettenden Sedimentarchitekturen in 15 Steinbrüchen, der anatomi...
The “Petrified Forest of Chemnitz” is an approximately 291-million-year-old palaeobotanical
fossil site, an ecosystem which has been exceptionally well preserved by
volcanic activity.
It provides geologists with insights into the development and disappearance
of habitats and the dynamics of environmental and climate change.
Nonmarine biostratigraphic/biochronologic schemes have been created for all or parts of the late Carboniferous–Middle Triassic using palynomorphs, megafossil plants, conchostracans, blattoid insects, tetrapod footprints and tetrapod body fossils, and these provide varied temporal resolution. Cross correlation of the nonmarine biochronologies to the...
Siliceous petrifactions belong to the most spectacular and widely distributed terrestrial plant macrofossils. Recorded from different environments and times during the geological history, they permit deep insights into the composition and former function of tissues, organs, organisms, and even whole habitats. Regardless of sharing the main constitu...
Update information of a current research project.
As seen from its buried soil, the Earth's oldest forest was diverse and grew on a periodically dry substrate, a new study shows. The sophisticated roots in this forest are reminiscent of modern seed plants, but come from Archaeopteris and, thus, predate the impact of seed-plant rooting on global forestation. As seen from its buried soil, the Earth'...
From the beginning of 2018 to the autumn of 2019, a team of 18 authors worked very hard to publish Schneider et al. (2019) “Late Paleozoic–early Mesozoic continental biostratigraphy — Links to the Standard Global Chronostratigraphic Scale”. This follows some important publications on nonmarine Permian biostratigraphy and biochronology in the volume...
From the beginning of 2018 to the autumn of 2019, a team of 18 authors worked very hard to publish Schneider et al. (2019) “Late Paleozoic–early Mesozoic continental biostratigraphy — Links to the Standard Global Chronostratigraphic Scale”. This follows some important publications on nonmarine Permian biostratigraphy and biochronology in the volume...
While knowledge about the paleobiology of plants has increased considerably, knowledge of the various interactions between trees, climbers, epiphytes, and other coexisting organisms has unfortunately remained limited. Besides morphology, anatomy, reproduction of plants, or even composition and distribution of their communities in space and time, on...
Seit Jahrhunderten werden in den oberkarbonischen Sandsteinen des Kyffhäusers meterlange, verkieselte Stämme gefunden, die den ältesten versteinerten Wald Deutschlands repräsentieren. Obwohl ihre wissenschaftliche Erforschung bis in die Frühzeit der Paläobotanik zurückverfolgt werden kann, blieben die Herkunft, die Versteinerungsumstände und das ex...
Paläontologische Sammlungen sind gleichermaßen Quelle und Resultat von Wissen. Als rchive der Erd- und Lebensgeschichte dokumentieren sie nicht nur räumlich-zeitliche Gegebenheiten, die heute nicht mehr existieren, sondern summieren oft den Beitrag mehrerer Forschergenerationen. Im Zuge der Revision fossiler Farnstämme des Karbons und Perms konnten...
Fluvial red beds containing anatomically preserved large woody debris shed new light on seasonally dry biomes of the Pennsylvanian–Permian transition and elucidate the concurrence of river depositional systems and vegetation. As a result, the occurrence, distribution and preservation of petrified large woody debris accumulations are considered cruc...
Wood boring represents a common feeding and survival strategy in several lineages of beetles. The larvae of wood-boring beetles hatch and excavate tunnels in wood during their development. The origin and evolutionary history of this life habit, however, remain poorly understood to date, as the fossil record is scarce. We present new silicified coni...
For 300 years, fossil plants from fluvial deposits of the Manebach Formation (Asselian, central Germany) have kept both collectors and scientists in their spell, and their investigation is considered to represent the onset of palaeobotany. Compressions and casts of various plant organs, many of them preserved in striking detail, provided insights i...
Im Jahre 1913 besucht der Schweizer Geologe Leo Wehrli (1870-1954) die sächsischen Industrie- und Handelsstädte Chemnitz, Dresden und Leipzig. Über seine Reise führt er Tagebuch. Bei seinem Aufenthalt in Chemnitz besucht Wehrli die Zeugnisse des Versteinerten Waldes von Chemnitz, einem autochthonen, unterpermischen Ökosystem. Er traf mit Johann Tra...
The morphology and anatomy of a new zygopterid fern are described from the Middle Pennsylvanian (Bolsovian) of Flöha, SE Germany. The fossils occur as allochthonous remains within the basal Schweddey Ignimbrite, which preserves a diverse wetland plant community of cordaitaleans, ferns, pteridosperms, calamitaleans, and lycophytes. Pinnae of Alloiop...
The Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic chronostratigraphic scales based on marine rocks and fossils are reasonably well defined and of global utility, but the situation is much different for non-marine deposits of this time interval. Due to the Carboniferous–Permian glaciation, the Hercynian-Appalachian-Ancestral Rocky Mountain orogenies, and oth...
