Ettingshausenia cuneifolia (BRONN) STIEHLER

Greguš, Josef & Kvaček, Jiří, 2015, Revision Of Cenomanian Flora From The Maletín Sandstone, Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae Series B 71 (3 - 4), pp. 315-364 : 332

Ettingshausenia cuneifolia (BRONN) STIEHLER

Pl. 16, Fig. 1–5; Pl. 17, Fig. 1–3

1837 Credneria cuneifolia BRONN , p. 583, pl. 28, fig. 11 (1/2).

1849 Credneria grandidentata UNGER , p. 348, pl. 5, fig. 5.

1857 Ettingshausenia cuneifolia (BRONN) STIEHLER , p. 67.

1869 Chondrophyllum grandidentatum (UNGER) HEER , p. 19, pl. 11, fig. 6.

1882 Platanus rhomboidea VELENOVSKÝ , p. 11, pl. 3, fig. 2, 3, pl. 4, fig. 1. nom. illegit. non Lesquereux

1896 Platanus acute-triloba KRASSER , p. 142, pl. 13, fig. 2.

1896 Platanus cuneiformis KRASSER , p. 141, pl. 12, fig. 5, pl. 14, fig. 3.

1896 Platanus moravica KRASSER , p. 140, pl. 13, fig. 3, pl. 15, fig. 3.

1896 Platanus pseudoguilelmae KRASSER , p. 139, pl. 14, fig. 2.

1896 Platanus velenovskyana KRASSER , p. 138, pl. 15, fig. 2.

1995b Platanus velenovskyana KRASSER ; Knobloch, p. 8, pl. 3, fig. 1.

2011 Ettingshausenia cuneifolia (BRONN) STIEHLER ; Golovneva, p. 150, pl. 2, fig. 2.

N e o t y p e: MMG/PB_26 (housed in the Senckenberg Museum, Dresden), Pl. 16, Fig. 1; Golovneva 2011, p. 150, pl. 2, fig. 2.

T y p e l o c a l i t y: Niederschöna ( Germany). T y p e H o r i z o n: Niederschöna Formation, Cenomanian, Upper Cretaceous.

M a t e r i a l s t u d i e d: CGS/EK_256; GBA_3b, 77, 119, 120, 136, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143; GPIT/PL_718; MMT(M)/G_368; MMT(Z)/G_392, 473; UGV_23.

O c c u r r e n c e: Maletín, Kunštát, Praha-Malá Chuchle,

Praha-Slivenec (Peruc-Korycany Formation).

D e s c r i p t i o n. The neotype (MMG/PB_26, Pl. 16, Fig. 1) chosen by Golovneva (2011, p. 150, pl. 2, fig. 2) is a deltoid fossil leaf, 90 mm long and 105 mm wide. Cuneate base preserved in upper half is slightly deformed, and leaf could be actually longer. It is a long petiolated leaf (length of petiole 45 mm). Basal part of leaf is entire-margined, apical serrate. Serration is deeply incised. Primary vein relatively thick and clearly pronounced. Secondary craspedodromous venation well preserved. Three to four pairs of upward bent secondary veins depart from midvein at a 35–40° angle. Agrophic veins run in acute angle from lateral veins. Third order venation is percurrent. Specimen no. GPIT/PL_718 (Pl. 16, Fig. 2), described by Heer (1869, p. 19, pl. 11, fig. 6) as Chondrophyllum grandidentatum (UNGER) HEER is a leaf impression of deltoid to triangular shape, without distinctive lateral lobes. Leaf impression is shortly petiolated (petiole 15 mm long), 76 mm long, width 52 mm. Base is cuneate and entire-margined, more or less serrate in terminal part. Venation craspedodromous, three pairs of secondary veins depart from midvein at acute angles. Primary vein appears divided at the 1/3 point; however, this damage probably took place prior to fossilisation. Venation of third order is percurrent.

Leaf impressions of E. cuneifolia from Maletín are highly variable in terms of size and shape. Size of leaf lamina varies from 40 to 130 mm in length and from 25 to 115 mm in width. There are also variations in shape: such as triangular leaves with a partially pronounced medial lobe, and partially pronounced lateral lobes ( GBA _138, Pl. 17, Fig. 3a); deltoid, without lateral lobes ( MMT ( Z)/ G _473, Pl. 16, Fig. 5; UGV _23, Pl. 16, Fig. 4); rhombic, with divided lamina and with three fully-developed lobes ( GBA _139, Pl. 17, Fig. 1a; GBA _140, Pl. 17, Fig. 2). The leaf apex is typically acute, with terminal part incise to serrate, basal part often entire-margined, cuneate or truncate. Petiole, if preserved, is approximately 25–30 mm long (42 mm). Venation craspedodromous, sometimes palinactinodromous, is always well preserved. Three to six pairs of secondary veins depart from midvein at an angle of 30°. Leaf base is typically cuneate. Suprabasal vein is sometimes present. First pair of secondaries is often agrophic ( CGS / EK _256, Pl. 16, Fig. 3a). Third order venation, typically percurrent to branched percurrent. Very well preserved third order percurrent venation is seen in specimens no. CGS /EK_256 (Pl. 16, Fig. 3b), no. GBA _138 (Pl. 17, Fig. 3b), no. GBA _139 (Pl. 17, Fig. 1b) and GBA _140 (Pl. 17, Fig. 2). One specimen of this species from Maletín was depicted by Knobloch (1995b, pl. 3, fig. 1) under the name Platanus velenovskyana KRASSER .

D i s c u s s i o n. Platanus rhomboidea was described by Velenovský (1882), but the same epitethon was used by Lesquerex (1874). This homonymy was mentioned by Krasser (1896), who therefore designated a new name Platanus velenovskyana KRASSER. Krasser (1896) in his publication described eight new species of Platanus from the Kunštát locality, approximately 35 km SW from Maletín, which were synomymized by Knobloch (1995b), and later by Golovneva (2011) in E. cuneifolia . Various sizes, shapes and types of leaf lamina of E. cuneifolia described by Golovneva (2011), and Golovneva and Nosova (2012) have the same epidermis, which argues for high morphological variability of this species. The same result was stated by Z. Kvaček (1983). Due to this, the classification of species based only on gross morphology is very difficult. Therefore we suggest assigning all the platanoid leaves from Maletín to E. cuneifolia (BRONN) STIEHLER. E. cuneifolia differs from E. laevis (VELENOVSKÝ) J. KVAČEK et VÁCHOVÁ from the Cenomanian locality of Mělník nad Sázavou in having serration only in the terminal part of the leaf, and having pronounced third order venation. E. laevis also almost always shows well-developed lateral lobes. E. cuneifolia differs from E. senonesis (KNOBLOCH) J. KVAČEK et VÁCHOVÁ from the Turonian-Santon locality of Zahájí (South Bohemia) and E. onomasta (BAYER) J. KVAČEK et HALAMSKI from the Coniacian of Idzików (Halamski and J. Kvaček 2015) in having a serrate terminal part of the leaf, and secondary venation lacking arches in the leaf margin. Leaf impressions of E. cuneifolia from Maletín locality frequently show ichnofossils. Pek and Mikuláš (1997) suggest that the numerous semi-circled pits on specimen no. MMT(Z)/G_473 (Pl. 16, Fig. 5) are insect grooves, but they do not exclude inorganic origin. Specimen no. GBA_138 (Pl. 17, Fig. 3a) shows filling of original grooves very well, and is interpreted in agreement with ( Pek and Mikuláš 1997) as vermicular animal trace fossil.