Zamites (Bennettitales) from the Minjur Formation (Norian) of Saudi Arabia – a unique record from the Late Triassic palaeotropics of Gondwana

Abstract

ABSTRACT Late Triassic plant macro-remains are extremely rare in an equatorial belt stretching across the North of Gondwana from northern South America to Arabia. Located between the Laurussian floral province to the North and the Gondwana floral province to the South, this large area, is almost entirely lacking palaeobotanical data. Thus, this region is of special interest to our knowledge of Late Triassic floral provincialism and plant distribution. Based on impressions from ferruginous crusts, the first record of identifiable plant macro-remains from the Late Triassic (Norian-Rhaetian) Minjur Formation is described, as belonging to the bennettitalean taxon Zamites aff. persicus. This new finding at least tentatively supports palynological data, which indicated similarities between the Late Triassic (Norian) palynoflora of the Minjur Formation of the Arabian Peninsula on the southern shores of the Tethys and the Norian palynoflora of Iran, during this time located in the northern part of the Tethys.