Tempskya Temporal range: Cretaceous
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Tempskya fossil slab and reconstruction on display | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Division: | Polypodiophyta |
Class: | Polypodiopsida |
Subclass: | Polypodiidae |
Order: | incertae sedis |
Family: | †Tempskyaceae Read et Brown ex L.C.A. Martínez |
Genus: | †Tempskya Corda 1845[1] |
Tempskya is an extinct genus of tree fern that lived during the Cretaceous period. Fossils have been found across both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.[2] The growth habit of Tempskya was unlike that of any living fern or any other living plant, consisting of multiple conjoined dichotomous branching stems enmeshed within roots that formed a "false trunk".[3]