Uxue Villanueva-Amadoz

A new uppermost Albian flora from Teruel province, northeastern Spain

ABSTRACT This paper reports a new Early Cretaceous flora discovered recently near the village of Estercuel (Teruel province, northeastern Spain). The plant bearing beds belong to the uppermost part of the Early Cretaceous succession, at the top of the fluvial deposits of the Utrillas Formation. The site has yielded a diverse assemblage of plant compressions including lycopods and ferns, various gymnosperms as well as terrestrial and aquatic angiosperms. Leaves of aquatic lycopods (Isoetites sp.) constitute a minor component of the palaeobotanical assemblage. Filicales are not very common, with Dicksoniales (Onychiopsis sp.) and a few specimens of Cladophlebis type fronds. The gymnosperms are represented by fragmented remains of long parallel veined Desmiophyllum leaves as well as a great abundance of conifer axis corresponding to the form-genus Pagiophyllum and female cones. Terrestrial angiosperms include pinnately lobed leaves of the genus Myricompia, simple leaves with spatulate lamina and some petiolate leaves both corresponding to angiosperms of uncertain affinity. Aquatic angiosperms consist of Nelumbo-like floral receptacles (Nelumbonaceae, Proteales) and Aquatifolia cf. fluitans (Nympheales). The palynological assemblage is dominated by pollen of gymnosperms (mainly Taxodiaceaepollenites hiatus, Classopollis major and Araucariacites australis). It also includes many angiosperm grains (Afropollis jardinus, Clavatipollenites spp., Dichastopollenites spp., Liliacidites doylei, Monosulcites chaloneri, Penetetrapites mollis, Pennipollis spp., Phimopollenites augathellaensis, Retimonocolpites textus, Rousea spp., Senectotetradites varireticulatus, Stellatopollis barghoornii, Striatopollis spp., Transitoripollis sp. cf. T. similis, Tricolpites spp., Tricolporoidites sp.) and records the first occurrence of tricolporate forms in the uppermost part of the Utrillas Formation. Both macroflora and microflora assemblages present taxa similar to those of the uppermost Albian Shaftesbury Formation in northwestern Alberta in Canada, the uppermost Albian Denton Shale Member of Bokchito Formation in southern Oklahoma, the lower part of the Upper Albian Dakota Formation from the mid-west of North America, and Subzone II C of the Potomac Group, eastern United States. Both macro- and microflora assemblages display boreal influence with some similar taxa to those of the Upper Albian Kome Formation in western Greenland and some taxa as Afropollis jardinus and Stellatopollis barghoornii more frequently found in the tethyan and gondwanan realms. A gondwanan affinity is also indicated by the presence of Klitzschophyllites leaves.

Klitzschophyllites, Aquatic Basal Eudicots (Ranunculales?) from the Upper Albian (Lower Cretaceous) of Northeastern Spain

Klitzschophyllites choffatii (Saporta sensu Teixeira) emend. is reported from the upper Albian of the Utrillas Formation at the Plou locality, Teruel Province, northeastern Spain. The species shows obovate microphylls; dense, flabellate primary and secondary veins interconnected by fine, reticulate tertiary veins and intersecting with an intramarginal vein; and small glands in sinuses between triangular teeth. It exhibits more affinities with basal eudicots (especially some Ranunculales) than with monocots. Sedimentological and taphonomic evidence, along with morphofunctional features, supports a freshwater hydrophytic habit for K. choffatii.

Palynological studies of the boundary marls unit (Albian-Cenomanian) from northeastern Spain. Paleophytogeographical implications

ABSTRACT Detailed records of spore-pollen assemblages from four sites located in the Aliaga and Oliete Sub-basins provide new insights into the palaeoclimatic and palaeogeographic settings during the Albian-Cenomanian transition in the Maestrazgo Basin (northeastern Spain). Palynological taxa such as Afropollis jardinus Doyle, Jardiné & Doerenkamp, 1982, Elaterosporites klaszii (Jardiné & Magloire) Jardiné, 1967, Equisetosporites ambiguus (Hedlund 1966) Singh, 1983, Gabonisporis pseudoreticulatus Boltenhagen, 1967, Senectotetradites varireticulatus Dettmann, 1973, Stellatopollis barghoornii Doyle, 1975, and the dinoflagellate cyst Cyclonephelium chabaca Below, 1981 indicate a latest Albian age for this unit. Abundance of Gondwanan elements such as Afropollis Doyle, Jardiné & Doerenkamp, 1982, Elaterosporites Jardiné, 1967 and Stellatopollis Doyle, 1975 indicates a northward extension of the paleogeographic distributions of those taxa during this time. Comparison between the studied microflora of the Iberian Range and microfloras from Tethyan and Gondwanan realms allows better understanding of the Tethyan paleogeographic setting.

A New Isoetalean Microsporophyll from the Latest Albian of Northeastern Spain: Diversity in the Development and Dispersal Strategies of Microspores

In this paper well-preserved isoetalean microsporophyll, containing in situ microspores, is described from the uppermost part of the Utrillas Formation (latest Albian) in Teruel Province, northeastern Spain. Similar but dispersed microspores were described previously as Peromonolites. Fossil plant impressions and compressions including the sporophyll lamina and microsporangium are referred to the fossil genus Isoetites. Although Isoetes-like megafossil remains, often with in situ or associated megaspores, are known from quite a few Cretaceous sites, and dispersed microspores are known, the presence of intact microsporangia is rare. Herein we suggest that microsporangia may have dispersed in masses, possibly representing a new unknown strategy in microspore dispersal in this group of plants.