Umaltolepis
genus of plants
Umaltolepis is an extinct genus of seed plant, known from the Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous of Asia. Within the form classification system used within paleobotany, it refers to the seed-bearing reproductive structures, which grew on woody plants with strap-shaped Ginkgo-like leaves assigned to the genus Pseudotorellia.
Description
Umaltolepis consisted of a thick, resinous umbrella-like four-lobed cupule borne on a stalk-like column, which was attached to the tip of a short shoot. The cupule is typically up to 2 centimetres (0.79 in) in length, and up to 1 centimetre (0.39 in) in width. The four lobes enclosed the column down to a flange-like flared structure. Near the top of the column near to the attachment of the cupule, the structure became four angled, with each of the four faces bearing a loosely attached winged seed. The Umaltolepis plant was probably wind-pollinated, likely involving a hanging pollination drop. The seeds are thin-walled and were probably wind-dispersed, with the cupule likely serving to protect the fragile seeds during their development. The cupule split open to release the seeds when ripe. The Pseudotorellia leaves are strap-shaped and somewhat resemble to those of Ginkgo, bearing a number (typically 4 to 8) of parallel veins, and are generally a few mm wide at their widest, and several centimetres long.
The public source identifies “Umaltolepis” as genus of plants. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Umaltolepis, genus and plants.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 4, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2478024. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Umaltolepis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.