Eolirion, Schenk, 1869

Halamski, Adam T., 2013, Latest Cretaceous leaf floras from southern Poland and western Ukraine, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 58 (2), pp. 407-443 : 433

Eolirion ? sp.

Fig. 7D .

?1967 Eulirion nervosum Hosius et Marck ; Malicki et al. 1967: 231, pl. 10: 29.

Material.—A single leaf fragment ZPAL Pl 4/1/9 from Krasnobród.

Description.—The fragment is 12 mm long and 25 mm wide. Traces of parallel veins, 1–2 per mm, can be observed; there is no midvein. The margin is poorly preserved and it is uncertain whether the observed absence of serration corresponds to the original condition.

Remarks.—This fragmentary plant remain is tentatively interpreted as a monocotyledonous leaf. However, the specimen described under the same generic name (erroneously as Eulirion) by Malicki et al. (1967) is more probably a twig fragment.

Unidentified taxa

The following section contains taxa reported by previous authors for which the material is either lost, unidentifiable, or not a plant.

Myrica latifolia Karczmarz in Karczmarz and Popiel, 1966 — holotype (and only specimen, Krasnobród) lost, figure poorly legible, description too general.

Magnolia polysperma Karczmarz in Karczmarz and Popiel, 1966 —the type material (syntype) of M. polysperma consists of an poorly preserved leaf (about 1/3 of the blade preserved, only secondary venation, no cuticular features available) and of an infill of (bivalve or crustacean?) burrows interpreted by the previous authors as an infrutescence (both from Krasnobród). This name, if emended to represent a leaf morphotaxon, might be used only for the lectotype and thus of no palaeobiologic use. The present author, acting as the first reviewer, here selects the presumed “infrutescence” (MZ VII/ 33/110) as the lectotype of Magnolia polysperma . In this way the name falls out of palaeobotanic interest. A similar case (presumed palm fruitbodies reinterpreted as traces of wood−boring bivalves) was reported from the Oligocene of Tatra Mts. in southern Poland ( Radwański 2009).

Sphaerococcites affinis Sternberg, 1833 sensu Malicki et al. (1967: 222) —probably sponges (specimen MZ VII/33/16) (Andrzej Pisera, personal communication 2011).

Podozamites eichwaldii Schmiper, 1870 sensu Malicki et al. (1967: 222–223 , fig. 3)—poorly preserved specimen MZ VII/33/7 may be a leaf (possibly the same as Eolirion ? sp.) or a twig.

Dewalquea groenlandica Heer, 1882 sensu Nowak (1907a) —the leaf L PB−K.12, formerly 151 from Potelych, is too fragmentary to be identifiable.

The following species reported by Cieśliński and Milaković (1962) from the Nida Trough are based on unidentifiable material: Sequoia maior from Liśnik, Dryophyllum cf. dewalquea from Zgubieniec, Fagus cf. prisca from Łysa Góra near Imielno, and Aralia formosa from Dalechowy.

Frequencies of taxa

Out of twenty six taxa described above (three ferns, five conifers, seventeen dicots and a single probable monocot), only two ( Geinitzia reichenbachii and Debeya paulinae ) are represented by more than ten specimens. Three more ( Cunninghamites squamosus , Rarytkinia polonica , and Dicotylophyllum cf. proteoides ) are known from five or more specimens, whereas all the others (21 taxa) are represented by four or fewer specimens, including twelve (46%) taxa known only from single specimens. This means that our knowledge of the latest Cretaceous flora of southern Poland and western Ukraine is still incomplete; new forms will very probably be found if more specimens are gathered. Any conclusions based solely on absences of taxa should therefore be considered as provisory.

http://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.2011.0024

Figures

Fig. 7. A, C. Eudicot Debeya insignis (Hosius and von der Marck, 1880) Knobloch, 1964. A. Lectotype PBO 1021[−1]; Haldem, Stemweder Berg, upper Campanian. General view (A1), enlargement of the petiolule branching (A2). C. General view of the slab PBO 1021 showing the lectotype (shown in A) and a paralectotype (PBO 1021[−2]) of Debeya insignis as well as two leaflets of Debeya haldemiana (shown in B); Haldem, Stemweder Berg, upper Campanian. B, G. Debeya haldemiana de Saporta and Marion, 1873. B. Fragmentary leaf PBO 1021[−3]; Haldem, Stemweder Berg, upper Campanian. G. Isolated leaflet ZPAL 4/2/2; Bliżów, lower Maastrichtian. D. Eolirion sp., fragmentary leaf ZPAL Pl 4/1/9; Krasbobród, upper Campanian. E. Debeya paulinae sp. nov., fragmentary leaf KrM Pb 1/6 (paratype); Krasnobród, upper Campanian. F. Debeya paulinae sp. nov., paratype KrS 1, enlargement of the petiolule branching (see general view in Fig. 2C). Scale bars 10 mm.