Givetian shale and siltstone lenses preserve thalloid Metzgeriothallus sharonae gametophytes and an associated sporophyte capsule, a liverwort body-fossil record rather than a crown-origin date.
Metzgeriothallus sharonae specimens from Givetian strata of eastern New York provide a Middle Devonian liverwort body-fossil record; this occurrence is not a crown-Marchantiophyta divergence date or a phylum-wide first appearance.
claim:event:metzgeriothallus:givetian-recordMetzgeriothallus sharonae is represented by well-preserved thalloid gametophytes with a medial costa and bifurcation, plus an associated sporophyte capsule; these observations diagnose the fossil material but do not describe all Marchantiophyta.
claim:event:metzgeriothallus:body-plan