An extinct genus of seed ferns that lived during the Permian period, whose fossils are found in ancient southern continents.
From Greek gangas (river) + pteris (fern), though the connection is unclear. The scientific name was coined in the 19th century by paleontologists studying prehistoric plant fossils from the Southern Hemisphere.
Gangamopteris fossils are proof of continental drift—the same fern species appears in fossils from Africa, South America, India, and Australia, which wouldn't make sense unless these continents were once connected!
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