64 



ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



1944 Calamospora (?) obesus (Loose) Schopf, Wil- 

 son, and Bentall, p. 52. 



1955 Punctatisporiies obesus (Loose) Potonie and 

 Kremp, p. 43-44; pi. 11, fig. 124. 



PUNCTAT1SPORITES cf. P. OBESUS 

 Plate 15, figures 1, 2 



Description. — Small spores of Punctati- 

 sporites cf. P. obesus are circular to round- 

 ed subtriangular, generally proximo- 

 distally compressed, range from 111 to 

 151 ix in diameter. Trilete suture is distinct, 

 commonly open; rays extend 26 to 35 [x 

 from proximal pole, equalling in length 

 35 to 55 percent of the spore radius. Labial 

 development is lacking. Spore coat is 3.8 

 to 5 [x thick, outer surface smooth, some- 

 times infrapunctate, brown to brownish 

 yellow by transmitted light. 



Discussion. — The Punctatisporites spores 

 are apparently identical to those originally 

 described by Loose (1932, p. 451) as 

 Sporonites obesus, later described by Po- 

 tonie and Kremp (1955, p. 43-44) as Punc- 

 tatisporites obesus (Loose) . The maximum 

 diameter of the Illinois spores is less than 

 that given by Loose, but somewhat greater 

 than that given by Potonie and Kremp. 

 Ray length on the Illinois spores ranges 

 between one-third of the spore radius (the 

 measurement originally given by Loose) 

 and a little more than one-half of the spore 

 radius (the measurement given by Potonie 

 and Kremp) . 



Horst (1955) described similar spores 

 from the Namurian A and B and the West- 

 phalian A. These generally are smaller and 

 have a somewhat more variable coat thick- 

 ness and longer rays than those typical of 

 the species. 



Potonie and Kremp (1955) stated that 

 the spores of Punctatisporites, as they in- 

 terpret the genus, could be allied with the 

 Psilopsida, Filicineae, and Cycadofilici- 

 neae ? . 



Punctatisporites obesus occurs in the 

 Middle and Upper Westphalian B in the 

 Ruhr Basin (Potonie and Kremp, 1955) . 



Occurrence. — Spores are common in the 

 Willis Coal (macerations 625A-B) from 

 Gallatin County, and are present in the 



Tarter Coal (maceration 901) from War- 

 ren County, Illinois. 



Genus Reticulatisporites (Ibrahim) 

 Schopf, Wilson, and Bentall, 1944 



Reticulatisporites irregularis 

 Kosanke, 1950 



1950 Reticulatisporites irregularis Kosanke, p. 26; 

 pi. 5, fig. 1. 



Reticulatisporites cf. R. irregularis 



Plate 15, figure 3 



Discussion. — The spore of Reticulati- 

 sporites cf. R. irregularis is 158 ^ in diame- 

 ter, 32 [X larger than the maximum diameter 

 given by Kosanke, and shows trilete rays, 

 about 20 fx long, in a vaguely denned circu- 

 lar area. The species apparently is re- 

 stricted in occurrence to the "Sub-Babylon" 

 Coal. 



Occurrence. — This specimen was found 

 in the "Sub-Babylon" Coal (maceration 

 144), Fulton County, Illinois. 



Genus Renisporites, n. gen. 



Type species. — Renisporites confossus (pi. 15, figs. 

 4, 5), from the Willis and Tarter Coals in 

 Illinois. 



Symmetry. — Spores of Renisporites are 

 bilateral, monolete. 



Shape. — Spores originally expanded bean- 

 shaped, oval in plane of longitudinal sym- 

 metry, more or less round in transverse 

 plane. Compression is generally along lon- 

 gitudinal axis, rarely in transverse plane. 



Size. — Greatest dimension is length, from 

 126 to 217 ix. 



Ornamentation. — Spore coat is smooth 

 with scattered puncta or pores completely 

 traversing the spore coat. There are gener- 

 ally two subcircular areas of closely spaced 

 puncta, oriented at the geometrical equator 

 and in the median transverse plane, one on 

 either side of the suture. 



Haptotypic features. — Suture is straight, 

 monolete, some specimens have low, vague- 

 ly defined, membranous lips, usually longer 

 than half the length of the spore. Well de- 

 fined arcuate thickenings are present, at 

 least at ends of suture and in some speci- 



