Primitive Silurian Plant Cooksonia Growing on Eurypterus Exoskeleton


Name: Cooksonia sp. (Silurian plant)

Primitive vascular plant or Tracheophyte

Geological Time: Silurian

Size: 4 1/4" long, on matrix measuring 13" x 9"

Fossil Site: Bertie Group , Buffalo, New York


This association of plant and animal from the Silurian is extremely rare in the fossil record. The early (vascular?) plant, Cooksonia, is associated with an Eurpterus exoskeleton. This species is one of the earliest forms of terrestrial flora, from a time that plants were first evolving features for land-based living. The plant was growing from the discarded molt of a sea scorpion.

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