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Fossil Liverworts from the Lower Cretaceous Huolinhe Formation in Inner Mongolia, China
Author(s) -
Ruiyun LI,
Xuelian WANG,
Peihong JIN,
Fujun MA,
Defei YAN,
Zhicheng LIN,
Bainian SUN
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
acta geologica sinica ‐ english edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1755-6724
pISSN - 1000-9515
DOI - 10.1111/1755-6724.12727
Subject(s) - cretaceous , thallus , genus , paleontology , extant taxon , inner mongolia , china , taphonomy , biology , structural basin , botany , geography , evolutionary biology , archaeology
A new genus and species, Rebouliothallus huolinhensis sp. nov., and two uncertain species, Ricciopsis sp. and Hepaticites sp., are described. The fossils were collected from the Lower Cretaceous Huolinhe Formation of Huolinhe Basin, northeastern China. The new genus Rebouliothallus was established in the Aytoniaceae family of Marchantiales. Rebouliothallus huolinhensis appears to be quite similar to species of the extant genus Reboulia Raddi. The species is characterized by the relatively large ventral scales. Ventral scales are large, imbricate and arranged in two rows on the ventral surface. Rhizoids are either pegged or smooth. Ricciopsis sp. is characterized by the rosette‐forming thallus. Hepaticites sp. shows some similarities to liverworts. Of the forty‐nine Early Cretaceous floras of China, only two floras, one from the Huolinhe basin, Inner Mongolia and the other from the Jixi Basin, Heilongjiang Province, contain fossil liverworts. The rare fossil liverwort records in the Early Cretaceous floras of China may be the result of taphonomic bias.