Hostinella

Hostinella is a form genus, used for bare dichotomously branching stems (axes) which have not been found in association with spore-forming organs or sporangia and so cannot be assigned to a more precise genus or species.^[1] Specimens assigned to this genus have been found in Bathurst Island, Canada, in the Bertie Formation of Upper Silurian age (around 430 to 420 million years ago), where the stems are approximately 1.2 mm in diameter;^[2] and in Lower Devonian Senni beds (from around 420 to 390 million years ago) where the axes have a straited external appearance and contain xylem with tracheids (diameter: 40 μm).^[1]

Hostinella Temporal range: Late Silurian–Early Devonian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Class:	†Trimerophytopsida
Order:	†Trimerophytales
Family:	†Trimerophytaceae
Genus:	†Hostinella Barrande (1868) ex Štúr (1882)
Type species
Hostinella hostinensis Barrande (1882)
Species
†H. bohemica Kräusel & Weyland 1932 †H. crispa Arnold 1939 †H. globosa Lang 1925 †H. heardii D.Edwards (1980)[1] †H. hercynica Mägdefrau 1938 †H. hostinensis Barrande (1882) †H. racemosa Lang 1925 †H. racheneuri Ledoux-Marcelle 1927 †H. silurica Banks (1974) †H. strictissima Høeg 1942 †H. wahnbachensis Kräusel & Weyland 1935
Synonyms
Hostimella (sic) Obrhel 1961

It is known to co-occur with Krithodeophyton.^[1]

References

1. Edwards, D. (1980). "Studies on lower Devonian petrifactions from Britain. 1. Pyritised axes of Hostinella from the Brecon Beacons quarry, Powys, South Wales". Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 29: 189–200. Bibcode:1980RPaPa..29..189E. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(80)90058-5.
2. Kotyk, M.E.; Basinger, J.F.; Gensel, P.G. & de Freitas, T.A. (2002), "Morphologically complex plant macrofossils from the Late Silurian of Arctic Canada", Am. J. Bot., 89 (6): 1004–1013, doi:10.3732/ajb.89.6.1004, PMID 21665700