A late Permian Cathaysian flora from the Dead Sea area, Jordan

Mustafa, Hakam

doi:10.1127/njgpm/2003/2003/35

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…In addition, nearly sixty other palynomorph taxa have been identified that clearly indicate a Late Permian age, including Lueckisporites virkkiae, Klausipollenites schaubergeri, Nuskoisporites dulhuntyi, and Jugasporites delasaucei. Another flora from a nearby locality in the upper part of the Um Irna Formation contains several typical Late Permian Cathaysian taxa, including Lobatannularia and Gigantonoclea (Mustafa, 2003). The Ma'in Formation, which overlies the Um Irna Formation with an erosional contact, yielded a low-diversity microflora, dominated by lycopsid spores (Endosporites papillatus, Densoisporites nejburgii) and acritarchs (Veryhachium sp.…”

Section: Geological Setting and Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Typical Triassic Gondwanan floral elements in the Upper Permian of the paleotropics

Kerp¹,

Hamad²,

Vörding³

et al. 2006

Geol

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Permian floras of the Middle East often show a mixture of Euramerican, Cathaysian, and Gondwanan elements. We report several species of Dicroidium, a seed fern typical for the Triassic of Gondwana, from the Upper Permian of the Dead Sea region. This is the earliest unequivocal record and the most northerly occurrence of this genus, suggesting that it may have evolved during the Permian in the paleotropics. With the decline and eventual extinction of the typical Permian Glossopteris flora, Dicroidium may have migrated southward. As the climate ameliorated in the Triassic, Dicroidium could have spread farther, eventually colonizing all of Gondwana, where it became one of the dominant floral elements.

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Section: Geological Setting and Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Typical Triassic Gondwanan floral elements in the Upper Permian of the paleotropics

Kerp¹,

Hamad²,

Vörding³

et al. 2006

Geol

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“…Sediments of the Umm Irna Formation were deposited in a fluviolacustrine lowland setting under strongly seasonal conditions (e.g., Bandel and Khoury, 1981;Stephenson and Powell, 2013). The formation has yielded a peculiar admixture of plant taxa, including typical late Paleozoic and Mesozoic taxa as well as typical representatives from different floral provinces of Pangea (Mustafa, 2003;Kerp et al, 2006;Abu Hamad et al, 2008Blomenkemper et al, 2018Blomenkemper et al, , 2019Blomenkemper et al, , 2020Zavialova et al, 2021). Bennettitalean fossils have been recovered from three fossil localities in particular:…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bennettitalean Leaves From the Permian of Equatorial Pangea—The Early Radiation of an Iconic Mesozoic Gymnosperm Group

et al. 2021

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Bennettitaleans are an extinct group of gymnosperms that are among the most iconic plants of Earth’s vegetation during the Mesozoic Era. The sudden appearance and rise to dominance of the Bennettitales during the Triassic remains a mystery. Leaf fossils similar to typical bennettitalean foliage occur in late Paleozoic deposits worldwide, but bennettitalean foliage can be identified with certainty only in case the fossils are sufficiently well-preserved to show epidermal features. So far, the characteristic stomatal architecture of the group has never been systematically documented in these putative Paleozoic remains. Here, we present well-preserved bennettitalean leaves from Permian deposits in two widely separated regions of equatorial Pangea. Two species of cuticle-bearing leaf compressions from the late Permian Umm Irna Formation, Jordan, are here formally described as Pterophyllum pottii Bomfleur et Kerp sp. nov. and Nilssoniopteris jogiana Blomenkemper et Abu Hamad sp. nov. Moreover, bulk maceration of samples from the Umm Irna Formation yielded six additional types of dispersed bennettitalean cuticles that are here informally described. In addition, the Cisuralian (early Permian) uppermost part of the Upper Shihhotse Formation exposed at the Palougou section in Shanxi Province, China, has yielded the oldest unambiguous bennettitalean fossils known to date; they consist of fragments of entire-margined leaves with well-preserved cuticles that we assign to Nilssoniopteris shanxiensis Bäumer, Backer et Wang sp. nov. Unlike the characteristic puzzle-patterned cuticles typical of many Jurassic and Cretaceous bennettites, the cuticles of these Permian bennettitalean remains show non-sinuous anticlinal walls, greater variety in stomatal orientation, and rare occurrence of transversely divided subsidiary cells—features that have until now almost exclusively been documented from the hitherto oldest cuticle-bearing Triassic bennettitalean material. Finally, the taxonomic richness, disjunct distribution, and broad variety in macro- and micromorphological features in these Permian bennettitalean remains lead us to suspect that the origin of the group will date back still further in time, and might in fact coincide with very early occurrences of Bennettitales-like foliage from the Pennsylvanian and Cisuralian, such as Pterophyllum cottaeanum, P. eratum, or P. grandeuryi.

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“…Plant macrofossils from the Umm Irna Formation were first mentioned by Bandel and Khoury (1981) in their description of the type section in Wadi Himara. Mustafa (2003) described a small flora of Cathaysian affinity with Lobatannularia and gigantopterids from a roadcut exposure along Highway 65 (Jordan Valley Highway). Abu Hamad (2004), Kerp et al (2006) and Abu Hamad et al (2008) described mummified leaves from the type section of the Umm Irna Formation in Wadi Himara with excellently preserved cuticles.…”

Section: -4mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because in most cases we do not have cuticles and systematic affinities are unknown, this group is here classified under incertae sedis. Mustafa (2003) described a new species of Doratophyllum, D. jordanicus, and a reinvestigation of this species based on specimens with preserved cuticles is currently being carried out.…”

Section: Incertae Sedismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of these are so-called "mixed" floras comprising Cathaysian elements and taxa typical for other floral provinces (e.g. Wagner, 1962;Archangelsky & Wagner, 1983;Berthelin et al, 2003Berthelin et al, , 2006aMustafa, 2003). Notably, the first bona fide occurrences of three gymnosperm lineages that became Map modified after Stampfli and Borel (2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The fossil flora of the Dead Sea region, Jordan – A late Permian Garden of Delights

Kerp

Blomenkemper

Hamad

et al. 2021

JPS

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The Umm Irna Formation, Jordan, holds one of the most peculiar late Permian plant–fossil assemblages worldwide. Over the last decades of field work, several localities close to the eastern shore of the Dead Sea have yielded a highly diverse ‘mixed flora’ of mesic to xeric environments encompassing elements that are typical either for different floral realms or for different time periods of Earth History. Taxa typical for particular floral realms include, e.g. Cathaysian gigantopterids and Lobatannularia, Euramerican conifers such as Otovicia hypnoides, or the characteristic Gondwanan seed ferns Glossopteris and Dicroidium. Moreover, most taxa are typical for the Permian, some assemblages have also yielded precocious occurrences of taxa that have so far been considered typical for the Mesozoic, such as Umkomasiaceae, Bennettitales, and podocarp conifers. In most cases, fossils from the Umm Irna Formation show well–preserved cuticles that allow sound systematic placement and contribute to the reconstruction of dispersed plant parts into whole–plant–taxa. Altogether, the Umm Irna Formation provides an exceptional window into depositional environments and vegetation types that are rarely preserved in the fossil record but that are crucial for our understanding of plant evolution.

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A late Permian Cathaysian flora from the Dead Sea area, Jordan

Cited by 17 publications

References 0 publications

Typical Triassic Gondwanan floral elements in the Upper Permian of the paleotropics

Typical Triassic Gondwanan floral elements in the Upper Permian of the paleotropics

Bennettitalean Leaves From the Permian of Equatorial Pangea—The Early Radiation of an Iconic Mesozoic Gymnosperm Group

The fossil flora of the Dead Sea region, Jordan – A late Permian Garden of Delights

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