A new cheirolepidiaceous conifer Pseudofrenelopsis salesii sp. nov. from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil (Romualdo Formation, Araripe Basin): Paleoecological and taphonomic significance
Pseudofrenelopsis is a genus of the conifer family Cheirolepidiaceae, whose temporal distribution was restricted to the Early Cretaceous. Its set of features correspond to adaptive responses to rather unstable and stressful environ- mental conditions, such as aridity and/or groundwater salinity. In...
| Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | article |
| Status: | Published version |
| Publication Date: | 2018 |
| Country: | Brasil |
| Institution: | Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) |
| Repository: | Repositório Institucional da Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) |
| Language: | Portuguese |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositorio.ufc.br:riufc/64100 |
| Online Access: | http://www.repositorio.ufc.br/handle/riufc/64100 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Conifer diversity Fossil preservation Leaf and stem anatomy Early Cretaceous Araripe Basin |
| Summary: | Pseudofrenelopsis is a genus of the conifer family Cheirolepidiaceae, whose temporal distribution was restricted to the Early Cretaceous. Its set of features correspond to adaptive responses to rather unstable and stressful environ- mental conditions, such as aridity and/or groundwater salinity. In this paper, we describe Pseudofrenelopsis salesii sp. nov. from the Albian Romualdo Formation of the Araripe Basin, northeastern Brazil, based on anatomical anal- yses of the stem and leaf epidermis of a new specimen using scanning electron microscopy. The unique combi- nation of features of P. salesii sp. nov., such as internodes of uniform sizes, completely sunken stomatal apparatuses, non-papillate subsidiary cells, and multi-layered hypodermis, distinguishes it from the remaining species of the genus, including Pseudofrenelopsis capillata from the late Aptian Crato Formation of the same basin. The new fossil species represents both an additional record of Cheirolepidiaceae in the Araripe Basin and the first representative of Pseudofrenelopsis formally described from the Romualdo Formation |
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