Phytogeographic, stratigraphic, and paleoclimatic significance of Pseudofrenelopsis capillata sp. nov. from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation, Brazil

Abstract

Coniferales are represented during the Early Cretaceous in northern South America both by macrofossils and palynomorphs of the families Araucariaceae and Cheirolepidiaceae. Fossils of Cheirolepidiaceae are often abundant in coastal deposits; plants of this family are considered to have grown under semiarid to arid climate conditions because of characteristic anatomical features which include several adaptations to aridity and/or salinity. Here histologically preserved specimens of Pseudofrenelopsis from laminated limestones of the Crato Formation (Araripe Basin, NE Brazil) were studied by light and scanning electron microscopy. A new species Pseudofrenelopsis capillata sp. nov. is described which seems to have grown exclusively at the Early Cretaceous (sub)paleoequatorial area of South America and may be therefore endemic. The new taxon may have grown in a riparian environment along the borders of a large lake as a minor constituent of the surrounding vegetation.