Improntas foliares del Cretácico de la provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina

Abstract

An assemblage of imprints of leaves from Bajo de los Corrales, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina is described. This assemblage comprises five angiosperm species, one gymnosperm and one pteridophyte. One of the angiosperm species is well represented, other taxa are scarce. The main species is Myrtoidea patagonica gen. et sp. nov. belonging to the ochnaceous group and the order Myrtales. The leaf is a narrow elliptic blade, with entire margin and expanded petiole. It has a massive primary vein, irregular secondary veins, which are almost as thin as the tertiary veins, intersecondary veins, and one or sometimes two intramarginal veins. It belongs to the myrtophyll Morphotype (sensu Crabtree), and has Second Rank (following Hickey). The other species are poorly preserved, but show that the flora had rather diversified angiosperms. The assemblage is compared to Barremian-Coniacian floras from the Baqueró Group, Chubut Group and Mata Amarilla Formation. It is suggested that it belongs to a different unit from those mentioned above, probably of Albian age.