Araucarian conifer from late Albian amber of northern Spain

Abstract

National Museum Prague, V aclavsk e n am. 68, 115 79, Abstract: Araucarian pollen cones Rabagostrobus hispanicus gen. et sp. nov. and their associated foliage Brachyphyllum obesum Heer are described from Lower Cretaceous (Albian) strata of northern Spain. Male cones consist of helically arranged microsporophylls bearing 5-8 elongate pollen sacs with in situ inaperturate Araucariacites-type pollen. The new taxon is compared to material described previously from the Early Cretaceous of North and South Americas. Sterile twigs of B. obesum bear helically arranged leaves with wrinkled margins. Its cuticle has files of predominantly transversely oriented stomata. Both twigs and pollen cones occur as inclusions in amber from the Peñacerrada 1 outcrop ( Alava Province), and as compressions are recorded from the amber-bearing strata sediments of the R abago/El Soplao outcrop. Inclusions of araucariacean plant remains and the co-occurrence of amber and male cone and twig compressions suggest that the amber in these two localities, or at least some of it, was produced by araucariacean plants.

Early Cenomanian palynofloras and inferred resiniferous forests and vegetation types in Charentes (southwestern France)

“…The botanical affinities of Cretaceous amber-producers are still poorly understood. Recent studies have related them to the Araucariaceae or Cheirolepidiaceae (Alonso et al, 2000;Najarro et al, 2009Najarro et al, , 2010Menor-Salván et al, 2010;Nohra et al, 2015;Kvaček et al, 2018).…”

Dinosaur bonebed amber from an original swamp forest soil

“…supports this stance, although other types of charcoalified wood likely belonging to other taxonomic groups have been found in Ariño. The presence of araucariacean remains as bioinclusions in Albian amber from the Peñacerrada I locality was proposed as evidence for an araucariacean resin-producing tree (Kvaček et al, 2018) Based on coprolite contents, such plants were consumed by the ornithopod and nodosaurid dinosaurs described from the site Vajda et al, 2016). As extant taxodioids are namely comprised of species with a high water requirement, these trees possibly were subjected to periodic flooding similarly to the bald cypress in modern swamps (Farjon, 2005).…”

“…supports this stance, although other types of charcoalified wood likely belonging to other taxonomic groups have been found in Ariño. The presence of araucariacean remains as bioinclusions in Albian amber from the Peñacerrada I locality was proposed as evidence for an araucariacean resin-producing tree(Kvaček et al, 2018). Araucariaceans have also been proposed as the source of other Lower Cretaceous ambers such as those from Lebanon, Myanmar, or France (Poinar et al, 2007; Perrichot et al, 2010; Seyfullah et al, 2018).…”

Conifers from the Cenomanian amber of Fouras (Charente-Maritime, western France)

“…Plant remains such as bryophytes, conifer leafy axes, ferns, and flowers have been reported in Cretaceous amber from many localities worldwide (Chambers et al, 2010;Crepet et al, 2016;Ignatov et al, 2016;Schneider et al, 2016;Moreau et al, 2017a;Kvaček et al, 2018). However, such fossil inclusions remain extremely rare in the French Cretaceous amber which has otherwise yielded abundant and diverse fossils of arthropods (Néraudeau et al, 2002(Néraudeau et al, , 2008Nel et al, 2004;Perrichot, 2005Perrichot, , 2015Perrichot et al, 2008aPerrichot et al, , 2008bPerrichot et al, , 2010, microorganisms (Breton and Tostain, 2005;Girard et al, 2009), as well as rare vertebrate integuments (Perrichot et al, 2008c;Vullo et al, 2010a).…”