3D model of a large hand sample with several fossils of a fern (NHMW-GEO-2024/0188/10528)

<p>This is a large hand sample with several fossils of the fern originally called <i>Gleichenites austriacus </i>by K. von Ettingshausen. It is not clear which living plant group is most closely related to this fern; the fossil likely represents a completely extinct lineage of ferns. It dates back to the Late Cretaceous age (approximately 80 million years), and was recovered from the coal-bearing strata of the Grünbach Formation, which form part of the Gosau Group in the Grünbach–Neue Welt Basin in Lower Austria.</p><p>This object is part of the historical ‘Ettingshausen collection’, which is on permanent loan from the Institute of Biology, University of Graz.</p>