Seed-cone scales from the upper Maastrichtian document the last occurrence in Europe of the Southern Hemisphere conifer family Araucariaceae

Abstract

Stratigraphically well-documented seed-cone scales belonging to the conifer genus Araucaria have recently been collected from marine upper Maastrichtian (uppermost Cretaceous) limestones in the type area of the Maastrichtian Stage (NE Belgium, SE Netherlands). These fossils document the youngest known occurrences of the Monkey Puzzle family (Araucariaceae) in Europe, extending the last appearance datum (LAD) for Europe ‘upwards’ in time for c. 18 million years. The cone scales can barely be distinguished from those of the extant Araucaria heterophylla, today confined to Australia. Together with an equally close similarity to an Early Jurassic scale from North America, these finds illustrate the great antiquity and constancy of seed-cone morphology within Araucaria section Eutacta. Climate change and competition with angiosperms, rather than the impact of a large extraterrestrial body (Cretaceous/Paleocene boundary event), led to the demise of Araucaria in the Maastrichtian type area.