The Upper Triassic flora of Svalbard

Pott, Christian

doi:10.4202/app.2012.0090

Cited by 13 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 65 publications

(101 reference statements)

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“…Recently, Strullu-Derrien et al (2012) documented evidence of invertebrate interactions with bennettitalean roots in a permineralized peat block derived from the island of Hopen in the Svalbard archipelago, around 2500 km north of Skåne. Together with a leaf adpression flora described from the same formation (Launis et al 2014;Pott 2014b), these remains represent the only macrofossil expression of higher mid-latitude floras from the Late Triassic of Europe. The study by Pott (2014b) revealed an adpression flora of sphenophytes, ferns, bennettitaleans, caytonialeans and putative peltaspermaleans, and ginkgoaleans.…”

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confidence: 99%

Biota and palaeoenvironment of a high middle-latitude Late Triassic peat-forming ecosystem from Hopen, Svalbard archipelago

McLoughlin

Strullu‐Derrien

2015

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A siliceous permineralized peat block recovered from Hopen in the Svalbard archipelago hosts a low-diversity Late Triassic flora dominated by autochthonous roots and stems of bennettitaleans and lycophytes, and parautochthonous leaves, sporangia, spores and pollen from a small range of pteridophytes and gymnosperms. Some parenchymatous bennettitalean root cells show interactions with chytrid fungi and bacteria; the remains of other fungi and fungi-like organisms are dispersed within the peat's detrital matrix. Cavities excavated through some roots and compacted detritus contain abundant coprolites probably derived from sapro-xylophagous oribatid mites, although no body fossils have yet been identified. Sparse larger coprolites containing leaf fragments attest to the presence of invertebrate folivores in the ancient ecosystem. The lowdiversity flora, relatively few trophic levels and simple nutritional web, together with sedimentological aspects of the host formation and the peat structure, collectively favour accumulation of the organic mass as a fibric (root-dominated) peat within a temperate (high middle-latitude), wellaerated mire.

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confidence: 99%

Biota and palaeoenvironment of a high middle-latitude Late Triassic peat-forming ecosystem from Hopen, Svalbard archipelago

McLoughlin

Strullu‐Derrien

2015

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“…Bennettitales appeared in the early Mesozoic, although their origins remain ambiguous. The oldest occurrences of the order based on fossil reproductive structures are from Carnian strata of the Alps and South Africa (Crane 1985(Crane , 1988Anderson and Anderson 2003;Pott 2014b;Pott et al 2010aPott et al , 2017, although specimens documented in this study indicate an earlier origin. Pinnate leaves with oblong-linear, parallel-veined segments of cycadalean or bennettitalean aspect occur in various late Palaeozoic and Early to Middle Triassic fossil assemblages (Taylor et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…The widely separated occurrences of these earliest unequivocal bennettitalean fossils have long suggested that the group must have had its origins significantly earlier to have achieved such a broad geographic distribution by the Late Triassic (Pott 2014b). Clearly, the group underwent an abrupt radiation by the Late Triassic with leaves and reproductive structures of that age referable to multiple genera (Taylor et al 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The AnisianLadinian age attributed to W. eskensis in our study makes this the oldest reproductive structure of Bennettitales yet discovered, and among the oldest fossils that can be confidently attributed to this order. Slightly younger bennettitaleans recognised by diagnostic cuticular characters, reproductive structures or wood anatomy are known from the Molteno Formation, South Africa (Carnian: Anderson 1989, 2003), the Chinle Formation of New Mexico (Carnian : Ash 1968), the Santa Clara Formation of Mexico (Carnian: Weber 2008), the Lunz Formation, Austria (Carnian: Pott et al 2007a, b), the De Geerdalen Formation, Svalbard (Carnian-Norian: Strullu-Derrien et al 2012;Pott 2014b), the Pekin Formation, eastern USA (Carnian: Pott and Axsmith 2015), and the Heiberg Formation, Arctic Canada, (Norian: Vavrek et al 2008). Wachtler and Van Konijnenburg-van Cittert (2000) reported a leaf of Pterophyllum filicoides from the Ladinian of the Dolomites (Italy), which can be assigned to Bennettitales with considerable confidence despite the lack of any epidermal anatomy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, Williamsoniaceae produced either bisexual or separate male and female reproductive organs that were exposed in branch axils on divaricating, thin-branched, shrubby plants (Pott 2014a;Pott and McLoughlin 2014). Williamsoniaceae may have arisen earlier than Cycadeoidaceae (Crane 1985;Pott et al 2007bPott et al , 2010aPott et al , 2017Pott 2014bPott , 2016. The latter appears to be a derived group restricted to western Laurasia (Wieland 1916;Watson and Sincock 1992), although perhaps extending to the Tethyan margin of northern Gondwana (Sahni 1932).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The diversity of Australian Mesozoic bennettitopsid reproductive organs

McLoughlin

Pott

Sobbe

2017

Palaeobio Palaeoenv

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Early Cretaceous abietoid Pinaceae from Mongolia and the history of seed scale shedding

Herrera

Shi

Bickner

et al. 2021

American J of Botany

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Premise: Seed cones of extant Pinaceae exhibit two mechanisms of seed release. In "flexers" the cone scales remain attached to the central axis, while flexing and separating from each other to release the seeds. In "shedders" scales are shed from the axis, with the seeds either remaining attached to the scale or becoming detached. The early fossil history of Pinaceae from the Jurassic to Early Cretaceous is dominated by flexing seed cones, while the systematic information provided by shedding fossil cones has been overlooked and rarely integrated with data based on compression and permineralized specimens. We describe the earliest and best-documented evidence of a "shedder" seed cone from the Aptian-Albian of Mongolia. Methods: Lignite samples from Tevshiin Govi locality were disaggregated in water, washed, and dried in air. Fossils were compared to material of extant Pinaceae using LM and CT scans. Results: Lepidocasus mellonae gen. et sp. nov. is characterized by a seed cone that disarticulated at maturity and shed obovate bract-scale complexes that have a distinctive ribbed surface and an abaxial surface covered with abundant trichomes. The ovuliferous scale has ca. 30-40 resin canals, but only scarce xylem near the attachment to the cone axis. Resin vesicles are present in the seed integument. Phylogenetic analysis places Lepidocasus as sister to extant Cedrus within the abietoid grade. Conclusions: The exquisite preservation of the trichomes in L. mellonae raises questions about their potential ecological function in the cones of fossil and living Pinaceae. Lepidocasus mellonae also shows that a shedding dispersal syndrome, a feature that has often been overlooked, evolved early in the history of Pinaceae during the Early Cretaceous.

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The Upper Triassic flora of Svalbard

Cited by 13 publications

References 65 publications

Biota and palaeoenvironment of a high middle-latitude Late Triassic peat-forming ecosystem from Hopen, Svalbard archipelago

Biota and palaeoenvironment of a high middle-latitude Late Triassic peat-forming ecosystem from Hopen, Svalbard archipelago

The diversity of Australian Mesozoic bennettitopsid reproductive organs

Early Cretaceous abietoid Pinaceae from Mongolia and the history of seed scale shedding

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