A new species of the conifer Frenelopsis from the Cretaceous of Sudan

Abstract

Conifer fragments from the Lower Cretaceous of Sudan are preserved as internal and external silica moulds. Low viscosity silicone rubber has been used to prepare casts showing fine epidermal details which enable identification of the plants. One is I'seudofrenelopsis parceramosa (Fontaine) Watson, the other is described as a new species of Frenelopsis Schenk.

Gymnosperms from the Early Cretaceous Crato Formation (Brazil). II. Cheirolepidiaceae

“…They clearly show a nonpapillate epidermis and nonpapillate stomata with a Florin ring. The features of our material seem to fit the characters described by Watson (1988) and thus justify a specific determination. The Crato material is distinguished from T. degiustoi Archangelsky, 1963 by its heterophyllous shoots.…”

“…P a l a e o b i o g e o g r a p h y. The genus Tomaxellia is known only from the Early Cretaceous of South America (Archangelsky 1966;Watson 1988). The poorly known type species, T. degiustoi Archangelsky, 1963 and the well known species T. biforme Archangelsky, 1966 have previously been reported only from the Ticó flora in the Santa Cruz Province in Argentina (Watson 1988).…”

“…Frenelopsis consists of several morphospecies typically bearing three leaves per whorl (Kvaček 2000;Watson 1988), but two species have been assigned to Frenelopsis, that show two opposite leaves per whorl and a decussate phyllotaxis. These species are F. teixeirae Alvin & Pais, 1978 from the Hauterivian to Barremian of Portugal and F. choshiensis Kimura et al, 1985 from the Barremian of Japan (Table 1).…”

“…During Jurassic and Cretaceous the maximum diversity and abundance of this conifer family was certainly in southern Laurasia and northern Gondwana. High percentages and large morphological variety of pollen in the respective pollen spectra (Spicer et al 1994) indicate that these conifers occupied a variety of ecological niches (Watson 1988;Axsmith & Jacobs 2005).…”

“…Srinivasan, 1995, Pagiophyllum Heer, 1881, Tarphyderma Archangelsky &Taylor, 1986 andTomaxellia Archangelsky, 1963 are Cretaceous members of this family. Additional Cretaceous taxa potentially belonging to the Cheirolepidiaceae are Androvettia Hollick & Jeffrey, 1909and Glenrosa Watson & Fisher, 1984(Watson 1988.…”