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Systematics and Paleoecology of a New Peltaspermalean Seed Fern From the Triassic Polar Vegetation of Gondwana
Bomfleur, Benjamin Taylor, Edith L. Taylor, Thomas N. Serbet, Rudolph Krings, Michael Kerp, Hans
Bomfleur, Benjamin
Taylor, Edith L.
Taylor, Thomas N.
Serbet, Rudolph
Krings, Michael
Kerp, Hans
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Abstract
A new Triassic seed fern is described on the basis of a large collection of well-preserved plant compressions
from the Upper Triassic of Mt. Falla, Queen Alexandra Range, central Transantarctic Mountains. The foliage
is simple entire-margined to pinnatifid to partly pinnate and is assigned to Dejerseya lobata (Jones et de Jersey)
Herbst emend. nov. Associated with these leaves occur two new reproductive structures. The ovulate organ
Matatiella dejerseyi sp. nov. is a lax, conelike structure with primarily shield-shaped megasporophylls that are
dissected into three to four narrow lobes, each bearing a single recurved, naked ovule. The pollen organ
Townrovia polaris sp. nov. consists of a slender axis arising from a covered reproductive bud, bearing pinnately
arranged, stalked, elongate receptacles each with ;20 unilocular, clavate pollen sacs; the pollen is bisaccate
nontaeniate with an irregular longitudinal sulcus and coarse saccus endoreticulations, corresponding to the
dispersed pollen Falcisporites australis. Similar pollen grains occur in the micropylar canals of seed cuticles of
M. dejerseyi. Co-occurrence data indicate that the three taxa are probably different organs from one plant
species. This new seed fern is assigned to the Matatiellaceae, which we place into the Peltaspermales because of
structural similarities with vegetative and reproductive organs of other peltaspermalean seed ferns. It appears
that several Triassic Gondwanan plant fossil taxa of currently uncertain affinities—such as Pachydermophyllum,
Linguifolium, Carpolithus mackayi, and Andersonia—may belong to the Matatiellaceae as well. We
suggest that the matatiellacean peltasperms were opportunistic, early successional plants that were particularly
successful in colonizing stressed wetland environments in polar latitudes during the Triassic.
Description
This is the publisher's version, which has been shared with permission. The original version may be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954102011000241
Date
2011
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University of Chicago Press
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Keywords
Dejerseya, Matatiella, Townrovia, Matatiellaceae, Antarctica, Whole-plant reconstruction
Citation
Bomfleur, B., Taylor, E., Taylor, T., Serbet, R., Krings, M., and Kerp,
H. 2011. Systematics and Paleoecology of a New Peltaspermalean Seed
Fern From the Triassic Polar Vegetation of Gondwana. International
Journal of Plant Sciences 172(6): 807-835.