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SPHENOPTERIDIUM AND TELANGIOPSIS IN A DIPLOPTERIDIUM‐LIKE ASSOCIATION FROM THE VIRGILIAN (UPPER PENNSYLVANIAN) OF NEW MEXICO
Author(s) -
Mamay Sergius H.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1992.tb13703.x
Subject(s) - pennsylvanian , carboniferous , paleontology , paleozoic , biology , taxon , mesozoic , flora (microbiology) , permian , structural basin , bacteria
The highly fossiliferous Virgilian (Upper Pennsylvanian) shales of the Kinney Brick Company quarry near Albuquerque, New Mexico, contain a diversified flora dominated by walchian conifers and neuropterid pteridosperms. Its other components include a specimen of Telangiopsis sp. and abundant material of Sphenopteridium manzanitanum, n. sp., a highly variable foliar form. Both genera are characteristically restricted to the Upper Mississippian, with the exception of one basal Pennsylvanian occurrence. Their occurrence together in the Kinney sediments and their possession in common of distinctive surficial ornamentation suggest that they represent dissociated parts of Diplopteridium, a very rare European Lower Carboniferous taxon. Other associated plants show later Paleozoic or even Early Mesozoic characteristics, which, together with the Mississippian elements, distinguish the Kinney site as paleobotanically unique.