Abstract Detail

Paleobotanical Section

Sender, Luis Miguel [1], Doyle, James [2], Villanueva-Amadoz, Uxue [3], Pons, Denise [4], Diez, José Bienve [5], Ferrer, Javier [6].

Sapindopsis (Platanaceae) in the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) of Spain.

Sapindopsis was originally described by Fontaine from the middle Albian Brooke locality in the Potomac Group of Virginia based on highly variable pinnatifid leaves with a broad to narrow wing of laminar tissue on the rachis (S. magnifolia = S. variabilis). It has been associated with heads of unisexual flowers similar to but less reduced than those of the near-basal eudicot Platanus, and its relationship to Platanus has been confirmed by phylogenetic analyses. Truly compound leaves with asymmetric leaflet bases and more ordered tertiary venation are known from Red Point and other late Albian localities in Maryland, while intermediate leaves occur at Quantico, Virginia. Similar leaves, some with teeth, have been previously known from Albian to Cenomanian deposits in the US Western Interior, the Middle East, Kazakhstan, and the Russian Far East, but not from Europe. Here we report two morphological types of Sapindopsis leaves from Albian deposits in Teruel Province, northeastern Spain. A new species from the middle to late Albian Escucha Formation at Alcaine and Ariño is most similar to Sapindopsis at Brooke but differs in having a consistently wide wing of leaf tissue on the rachis, a trilobed apex, longer basal than apical lobes, and lower-angle secondary veins. Less abundant leaves from the latest Albian Boundary Marls at Huesa del Común may be identical to those from Quantico, with strongly asymmetric lobe bases but a narrow fringe of lamina decurrent onto the rachis and random reticulate tertiaries. These observations corroborate the evolutionary trend from pinnately lobed to pinnately compound inferred from the Potomac sequence. Similarities of both sedimentary environments and plant assemblages at Sapindopsis localities in Spain and the United States indicate similar environmental conditions for Sapindopsis in both areas, although the coriaceous texture of the leaves in the Escucha Formation could reflect a somewhat drier climate in Spain. The previous lack of reports of Sapindopsis in Europe has been cited as evidence that the genus dispersed between Eurasia and North America via the Beringian area, but our results are equally consistent with a lower-latitude distribution along the northern shores of the Atlantic.

1 - Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew, Chubut, 9100, Argentina
2 - University Of California Davis, Dept Of Evol & Ecology, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616-8537, USA
3 - Estación Regional del Noroeste, UNAM, Instituto de Geología, Hermosillo, Sonora, 83000, Mexico
4 - Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Paris 6, UMR 7207, Paléobiodiversité et Paléoenvironnements, Paris, 75005, France
5 - Universidade de Vigo, Xeociencias Mariñas e Ordenación do Territorio, Vigo, Galicia, 36310, Spain
6 - Universidad de Zaragoza, Ciencias de la Tierra, Zaragoza, 50009, Spain

Keywords:
angiosperms
Cretaceous
Platanaceae
paleobotany
Spain
Sapindopsis
Potomac Group.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 24
Location: Salon 5/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2015
Time: 5:00 PM
Number: 24006
Abstract ID:233
Candidate for Awards:None