Fossils B/C

[Unome]

Does anyone know how to distinguish the leaves of a Metasequoia and Pteridophyta? I've found that a lot of images online are extremely similar. I know that the former is a tree and the later is just a fern, but nonetheless their leaves look almost identical, and given only the leaves, I wouldn't be able to distinguish the two right now. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Pteridophyta leaves grow out of the stem more perpendicular, and the leaves are larger and flatter near the stem.

[boomvroomshroom]

Speaking of distinguishing between plants, what's a good way to distinguish between Acer and Platanus?

[Magikarpmaster629]

Platanus has wider leaves. I don't think those two will be on very many tests because they are still extant, as well as very common. Get a few pictures for your binder, and you should be fine.

[boomvroomshroom]

Problem with those two is that there's so many different species of Acer and Platanus, not to mention every leaf is different anyway, so it's hard to judge by size.

[sunshinez]

I know this is a kinda stupid ID question, but I have so much difficulty differentiating between certain dinosaurs (Allosaurus vs. Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor vs. Deinonychus, etc.). I've heard they're supposed to be pretty easy... but evidently not for me. Also, it's annoying because certain pictures of different types look so similar to others since no one reallyknows what the dinosaur looked like. Any helpful tips?

[boomvroomshroom]

I know this is a kinda stupid ID question, but I have so much difficulty differentiating between certain dinosaurs (Allosaurus vs. Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor vs. Deinonychus, etc.). I've heard they're supposed to be pretty easy... but evidently not for me. Also, it's annoying because certain pictures of different types look so similar to others since no one reallyknows what the dinosaur looked like. Any helpful tips?

Do you mean the bones or artist drawings? It's almost impossible to figure out the difference between Deinonychus and Velociraptor in drawings, but with actual bones, there are some hints. People figure it out differently; the most obvious tell is size, and then there are some other minor things here and there like number of fingers or skull shape and whatnot. It's kind of hard to explain; you just have to practice a lot and soon you'll figure out something that works for you.

[humanbeingofearth548]

Another stupid ID questions for all of you fossil overs out there!
Are there any ways that you guys distinguish platanus and acer? They both look nearly the same to me.

[boomvroomshroom]

Another stupid ID questions for all of you fossil overs out there!
Are there any ways that you guys distinguish platanus and acer? They both look nearly the same to me.

Yeah, we're still trying to figure that out. So, platanus is supposed to have wider leaves and deeper grooves, but I've seen various acer samples that happen to be wider with deeper grooves than platanus simply due to variation between leaves and between species in those two genera.

[Intj]

Yeah, we're still trying to figure that out. So, platanus is supposed to have wider leaves and deeper grooves, but I've seen various acer samples that happen to be wider with deeper grooves than platanus simply due to variation between leaves and between species in those two genera.

I found this: "However, all the main veins to maple leaf lobe tips start from a single point at the base of the leaf; see this venation pattern illustrated and distinguished from that of London plane tree in the Maple photo gallery. The careful observer will notice another significant difference between Platanus and Acer, namely, the branching and leaf arrangement of maples is opposite, while that of plane trees is alternate" from this link: http://trees.stanford.edu/ENCYC/PLATace.htm
And this: "The superficial similarity of the leaves and bark of A. pseudoplatanus to those of plane trees in the genus Platanus led to it being named pseudoplatanus, using the prefix pseudo- (from the Ancient Greek for "false"). However, the genera are not closely related. Acer and Platanus differ in their leaf insertion (alternate in Platanus, paired or opposite in Acer) and in their fruit, which are spherical clusters in Platanus and paired samaras in Acer" from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_pseudoplatanus

This is what they mean by leaf insertion (alternate is the same thing as spiral)


Here are pictures of fossils of acer and platanus from Google images...I can sort of see their point about the veins:
Acer:
Platanus:

Sorry the pictures are so big

[boomvroomshroom]

Wow! Thanks a lot!