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The recent discovery of a fossilized plant dating back more than a quarter-million years could provide new insight into Southwest Oklahoma’s prehistory, as well as create opportunities for paleontology research by local college students.
The fossil, discovered on property belonging to the City of Lawton last winter, was first speculated to be part of a dinosaur. When it was turned over to city officials, then-mayor Cecil Powell contacted Cameron for help in identification. The item was forwarded to the University of Oklahoma’s Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, where Dr. Richard Lupia identified it not as animal, but a segment of Stigmaria, a generic name for the root stems a prehistoric plant.
The root could belong to one of three similar lycopods – tree-like plants – known by the names Lepidodendron, Lepidophloios and Sigillaria, according to Dr. Michael Dunn, an assistant biology professor at Cameron who studied the fossil when it was brought back to Lawton. These trees grew up to 130 feet tall and formed much of the canopy of coal-forming swamps during the Carboniferous Period of 280-345 million years ago.
Plant paleontology of the Carboniferous Period is a research focus of Dunn. In fact, one of his students at Cameron recently was awarded a McNair Scholarship for a summer study to describe stems produced by a seed fern that lived in northwestern Arkansas approximately 325 million years ago. The discovery of this fossil near Lawton may shed new light on the prehistoric habitat of Southwest Oklahoma.
“Although Stigmaria fossils are common in eastern Oklahoma, their occurrence near Lawton is of great interest,” Dunn said.
 The fossil recovered near Lawton is believed to be part of the root system of a prehistoric tree-like plant, either the Lepidodendron or the Stigillaria. This artist’s conception shows how the plant probably looked. |
Because virtually all plants fall apart when they die, any fossils are usually recovered as individual organs, Dunn noted. Commonly, stems are the first organs recovered and identified because trees produce an abundant number durable enough to withstand fossilization. Stigmaria function like roots, but are actually highly modified underground stems with a root-like function.
Powell indicated the immediate plan is for the fossil to be turned over to the Museum of the Great Plains, where it will join two other specimens that have been part of its collection since 1997. Unlike those examples, which are rocks containing impressions of Stigmaria, this is the fossilized stem itself.
It is hoped the discovery of the fossil will provide new research projects for college students in the field of paleontological research, according to CU Provost Gary Buckley. Buckley indicated that, with the permission of the City of Lawton, the university plans to develop a special studies course around the fossil. The course, which would likely be offered within the next year at CU, would include a supervised excavation of the discovery site in an effort to locate additional Stigmaria.
Powell advocated Cameron’s involvement in research surrounding the fossil.
“It is so important that Cameron be involved in this discovery, from a student standpoint,” Powell said. “I think it will be great to have our own local university as part of this research, and to have this fossil play a role in the education of Cameron students.”
Contact: Keith Mitchell, 1-580-581-2211