Oldest record of the scale-leaved clade of Podocarpaceae, early Paleocene of Patagonia, Argentina

Andruchow-Colombo, A., Escapa, I. H., Carpenter, R. J., Hill, R. S., Iglesias, A., Abarzua, A. M. & Wilf, P. 15 November 2018. Oldest record of the scale-leaved clade of Podocarpaceae, early Paleocene of Patagonia, Argentina. Alcheringa 43, 127–145. ISSN 0311-5518.A new podocarpaceous conifer is described from the early Danian Salamanca Formation (southern Chubut, Patagonia, Argentina) based on compressions of leafy branches with cuticular remains. Kirketapel salamanquensis gen. et sp. nov. has amphistomatic, scale-like leaves with marginal frills distinguishable at the apex; stomata oriented randomly in relation to the major axis of the leaf with four to five subsidiary cells and extremely reduced Florin rings; and irregularly shaped epidermal cells. We compare K. salamanquensis with extant and extinct members of the imbricate-leaved podocarps, among which it closely resembles Florin’s Dacrydium group C genera (i.e., Lagarostrobos, Manoao, Lepidothamnus and Halocarpus). Among these genera, only Lepidotha...