Foliage accumulations of Osmunda lignitum (osmundaceae) in the Oligocene of northern Italy and western Germany

Abstract

Accumulations of Osmunda (Plenasium) lignitum (Giebel) Stur fern foliage have been recently recovered in the Oligocene deposits of northern Italy at Cassinelle and western Germany at Niederpleis-1 (Sankt Augustin; Winterscheid 2006). They morphologically match other European records distributed from the Eocene to the Oligocene (– early Miocene). Material from both sites represents sterile pinnae compressions with preserved leaf anatomy. The data obtained on leaf cuticles correspond to most of the previous findings from Germany (Geiseltal, Seifhennersdorf, Haselbach) but cast doubts on some others based on dispersed cuticles (e.g. Zülpich). Comparison with living species of Osmunda (Plenasium) from east and south-east Asia revealed only minor differences in the epidermal structure and stress the close relationship with Osmunda banksiifolia (C. Presl) Kuhn distributed along valley streams from China, Japan to Indonesia, New Guinea and Philippines.

Fossil pinnae, sporangia, and spores of Osmunda from the Eocene of South China and their implications for biogeography and paleoecology

“…Osmunda bromeliifolia from the Miocene of Japan (Endo, 1961), O. to-tangensis (Colani) Guo from the Miocene-Pliocene of Yunnan, China (WGCPC, 1978), and O. lignitum (Giebel) Stur from the Eocene-Miocene of the Northern Hemisphere (Stur, 1870;Miller, 1967Miller, , 1971Huzioka & Takahasi, 1970;Barthel, 1976;Mai & Walther, 1978, 1985; WGCPC, 1978;Guo, 1985;Wilde, 1989;Kvaček & Hably, 1991;Frankenhäuser & Wilde, 1993;Petrescu et al, 1995;Kvaček & Walther, 1998;Wilde & Frankenhäuser, 1998;Kvaček & Martinetto, 2016), share the same characters of dentate and articulate pinnules with our fossils as well as extant species of the subgenus Plenasium. Differences between the present fossil specimens and O. bromeliifolia have been discussed in aforementioned comparisons with the extant species.…”

“…During the Paleocene, Osmunda was found in Asia, such as O. greenlandica and O. sachalinensis Kryshtofovich from northeastern China (Tao & Xiong, 1986;Wang et al, 2006) and North America indicated by O. heeri, O. greenlandica, O. macrophylla, O. pluma Miller, O. precinnamomea Miller, and O. arnoldii Miller from the northern, western, and northwestern North America (Brown, 1962;Miller, 1967Miller, , 1971Zhang et al, 1980). In the Eocene, the genus was scattered in Europe, Asia, and North America, indicated by O. lignitum from the Eocene of Europe and East Asia (Matsuo, 1963(Matsuo, , 1967Tanai, 1970;Barthel, 1976;Mai & Walther, 1978, 1985Guo, 1985;Wilde, 1989;Kvaček & Hably, 1991;Frankenhäuser & Wilde, 1993;Petrescu et al, 1995;Kvaček & Walther, 1998;Wilde & Frankenhäuser, 1998;Kvaček & Martinetto, 2016), O. dowkeri (Carruthers) Chandler from the Eocene of Europe and North America (Kidston & Gwynne-Vaughan, 1914;Arnold, 1952;Chandler, 1965;Miller, 1967Miller, , 1971). In the Oligocene, fossil records of the genus occurred in Europe and Asia, including O. lignitum from Germany (Kvaček & Martinetto, 2016), O. sachalinensis and O. japonica Thunb.…”

“…In the Eocene, the genus was scattered in Europe, Asia, and North America, indicated by O. lignitum from the Eocene of Europe and East Asia (Matsuo, 1963(Matsuo, , 1967Tanai, 1970;Barthel, 1976;Mai & Walther, 1978, 1985Guo, 1985;Wilde, 1989;Kvaček & Hably, 1991;Frankenhäuser & Wilde, 1993;Petrescu et al, 1995;Kvaček & Walther, 1998;Wilde & Frankenhäuser, 1998;Kvaček & Martinetto, 2016), O. dowkeri (Carruthers) Chandler from the Eocene of Europe and North America (Kidston & Gwynne-Vaughan, 1914;Arnold, 1952;Chandler, 1965;Miller, 1967Miller, , 1971). In the Oligocene, fossil records of the genus occurred in Europe and Asia, including O. lignitum from Germany (Kvaček & Martinetto, 2016), O. sachalinensis and O. japonica Thunb. from Japan (Ôishi & Huzioka, 1941;Tanai, 1970), and O. kryshtofovichii Chelebaeva from Russia (Chelebaeva, 1988) (Matsuo, 1953(Matsuo, , 1963Tanai, 1961;Matsumoto & Nishida, 2003), O. wehrii and O. claytoniana from USA (Miller, 1982;Pigg et al, 2006), and O. iliaensis Miller from Europe (Miller, 1967(Miller, , 1971.…”

“…North Dakota, USA (Miller, 1967(Miller, , 1971 O. dowkeri (Carruthers) Chandler Rhizome Eocene Herne Bay, Isle of Wight, UK Clarno, Oregon, USA (Kidston & Gwynne-Vaughan, 1914;Arnold, 1952;Chandler, 1965;Miller, 1967Miller, , 1971 O. lignitum (Giebel) Stur Pinnae Eocene Honshu and Kyushu, Japan Fushun, Liaoning, China (Huzioka & Takahasi, 1970;Tanai, 1970;Barthel, 1976;WGCPC, 1978;Guo, 1985) Pinnae Eocene to middle Miocene Italy, Denmark, Germany, France, UK, Romania, Bohemia, Hungary (Barthel, 1976;Mai & Walther, 1978, 1985Guo, 1985;Wilde, 1989;Kvaček & Hably, 1991;Frankenhiiuser & Wilde, 1993;Petrescu et al, 1995;Kvaček & Walther, 1998;Wilde & Frankenhäuser, 1998;Kvaček & Martinetto, 2016) Pinnae Middle Eocene…”