mesofossil

English

Alternative forms

• meso-fossil

Etymology

From meso- +‎ fossil.

Noun

mesofossil (plural mesofossils)

1. (paleontology, paleobotany) A fossil of a small part of a plant, such as a fruit, leaf or seed.
   • 1999, XVI International Botanical Congress, Abstracts, International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies, page 180:

     The mesofossils are small, three-dimensional and charcoalified or lignitized and yield exquisite structural details when studied with scanning electron microscopy.

   • 2012, Bernard Gomez et al., “10: Mesofossil Plant Remains from the Barremian of Hautrage (Mons Basin, Belgium), with Taphonomy, Paleoecology, and Paleoenvironment Insights”, in Pascal Godefroit, editor, Bernissart Dinosaurs and Early Cretaceous Terrestrial Ecosystems, Indiana University Press, page 105:

     The present study, based on the morphology of leaves and reproductive organs, reveals much more diversified mesofossil plant assemblages.

   • 2018, Else Marie Friis, Peter R. Crane, Kaj R. Pedersen, “17: Fossil Seeds with Affinities to Austrobaileyales and Nymphaeales From the Early Cretaceous (Early to Middle Albian) of Virginia and Maryland, USA”, in Michael Krings, Carla J. Harper, Néstor Rubén Cúneo, Gar W. Rothwell, editors, Transformative Paleobotany, Elsevier (Academic Press), page 432:

     Currently, seeds assignable to Nitaspermum are recorded only from the early to mid-Albian mesofossil floras at Puddledock and Kenilworth localities, eastern North America.

Translations

fossil of a small part of a plant

• French: please add this translation if you can
• German: Mesofossil n
• Italian: please add this translation if you can

See also

• microfossil