Umaltolepis
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 in length, and up to 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 of parallel veins, and are generally a few mm wide at their widest, and several centimetres long. The Pseudotorellia leaves were borne on clusters at the apex of short shoots. These shoots were typically covered in bark bearing bud scales and abscission scars, arranged in a whorl-like pattern.Ecology
The Umaltolepis-Pseudotorellia plant is known to have grown in peat swamps, as well as fluvio-lacustrine environments.Taxonomy
Umaltolepis was first proposed by Krassilov in 1970, but was not properly described until 1972. It was assigned to its own family, Umaltolepidaceae by Zhou in 1991Umaltolepis is probably closely related to the seed-bearing structure Vladimaria from the Middle Jurassic of Russia, though its relationship to other seed plants is uncertain. The structure of Umaltolepis has been noted to be similar to those of some extinct Peltasperms and Umkomasiales, while leaves and the attachment of the leaves to the stem is strongly similar to that of living Ginkgo. It has either been assigned to the order Vladimariales alongside Vladimaria as possible members of Ginkgoopsida, or to Ginkgoales sensu lato.