Article: Epidermal structure of some medullosan Neuropteris foliage from the middle and upper Carboniferous of Canada and Germany

Cuticles from seven taxa of neuropterid frond are described. Based on these and earlier descriptions, four main groups of species are recognized within Neuropteris Brongniart: Group I - N. loshii Brongniart, N. tenuifolla Sternberg and N. rarinervis Bunbury; Group II - N. ovata var. simonii (Bertrand), N. ovata var. sarana (Bertrand), N. ovata var. aconiensis nov. var., N. flexuosa Sternberg and N. schaeferi Doubinger and Germer; Group III - N. scheuchzeri Hoffmann, N. macrophyllu Brongniart, N. subauriculata Sterzel, N. britannica (Gutbier), N. sp alpha Barthel and N. sp beta Barthel; Group IV - N. neuropteroides (Goppert). The groups may correspond to more refined form-genera but, in the absence of epidermal evidence for certain key species including the type N. heterophylla Brongniart, no formal proposals are made here. The epidermal evidence suggests that most of the fronds were from plants growing in a moist, lowland environment. Only one (N. scheuchzeri Hoffmann) shows evidence of having occupied a more elevated habitat.