The most abundant species of this genus, Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri, has had a long taxonomic history since it was first recognized in fossils found near Oxford, England by Edward Lhuyd in 1669.

It is illustrated and noted in Lhuyd's Lythophylacii Britannici Ichnographia, an early manuscript on English fossils published in 1699 with the financial help of Isaac Newton.

[3] Nearly hundred years after Scheuchzer's death, the species was renamed Neuropteris scheuchzeri by professor Hoffmann in Christian Keferstein's 1826 atlas of German Geology, Deutschland, geognostisch-geologisch dargestellt.

Together these fossils describe parts of a medullosalean seed fern tree that was likely about 8–10 meters tall with an upright trunk with large compound frond-like leaves.

These foliar characteristics combined with the spiny stem structure where the leaflets drop, and the potential deciduous nature have led to many authors suggesting a xeromorphic tendency in the tree.

Such adaptations may have allowed the genus to dominate the late Carboniferous landscape as other plants like Lepidodendrales steadily declined.

It has become an important taxonomic characteristic particularly for M. scheuchzeri, which has abundant epicuticular hair that can reach a maximum length of 1000 mm.

[11] The hair-like structures of M. scheuchzeri (1) are not organically attached to the abaxial surface; (2) differ spectrochemically from the organic material of the lamina; (3) are composed, in contrast with the trichomes, of relatively long, unbranched aliphatic (polymythelinic) hydrocarbon chains [CH2]n, and (4) are acellular and black, unlike true trichomes of the species that are multicellular.

For this reason the term "extracuticular deposit" is proposed, reflecting the origin and emergent nature of such hair-like structures in the abaxial pinnule.Reconstructions of the entire Macroneuropteris trees have been based on various separate fossil parts.

This fossil tree was extensively studied by Howard Falcon-Lang who found many characteristics that differed from the previous reconstructions.

The fossil tree has a sharply tapering trunk surrounded in its lower part by a large number of downward-recurved senescent petioles, which form a skirt.

Petioles borne in an upright or horizontal position, interpreted as fronds that were still photosynthetically active when buried, are confined to the uppermost preserved part of the tree.

Bell studied the Sydney Coalfield in Nova Scotia, and suggested that the large fossilized seeds called Trigonocarpus noeggerati could be the ovules of Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri.

Some have noted that the large size of these seeds may have allowed them to float, like small coconuts, to be distributed in these coastal mangrove-like areas as well as inland wetland forests.

[17] As early a 1903, the fossilized male pollen organs called Codonotheca caduca were speculated to be from plants bearing Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri foliage.

The large size of the monolete pollen of Macroneuropteris and other seed ferns suggests that they may not have been well adapted to wind dispersal.

[25] Macroneuropteris scheuchzeri is a very recognizable species in the Late Carboniferous, and is found throughout what was known as Euramerica, a large supercontinent that included present-day North America, Europe, and northern Africa.

It also affected Macroneuropteris, however, the genus was able to recover quicker than other species after this event and became a dominant part of a new forest ecosystems alongside the tree fern Psaronius.