First fossil record of Nogodinidae in South America; a planthopper from the upper Paleocene of Argentina. Systematics and taphonomy

PETRULEVICIUS, J. F.

PALAEONTOLOGY

Blackwell publishing

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2005 vol. 48 p. 299 - 308

0031-0239

A new taxon of plant hoppers, Celinapterixini, is erected from the upper Paleocene Maíz Gordo Formation, northwestern Argentina. It is based on Celinapterix bellissima gen. et sp. nov. Its phylogenetic relationships within Fulgoroidea and Nogodinidae are discussed. The presence of this group in the northwest of Argentina could indicate a sub-tropical climate for the late Paleocene. The plant hopper is an unusual case of articulated preservation, and was buried in soupy-ground during early fossildiagenesis. The palaeoenvironment is interpreted as a lake with a carbonate mudflat subenvironment with a low-flow of energy in a period of contraction of the lacustrine system. Early fossildiagenesis seems to have occurred in a long period of time as the specimen shows all original soft-bodied parts as an amorphous mass, due to tissue decomposition. The presence of three-dimensional preservation suggests the absence of fossildiagenetic compression and the sediments in these layers seem to preserve more or less their original thickness. The Danish Eocene species Hammapterix paucistrata (Henriksen 1922) is transferred to Nogodinidae and placed in a new genus (Henriksenopterix) because of characters of wing venation.