Fossil woods of the Mimosoideae from the Lower Paleocene of Patagonia, Argentina.

BREA, M.; ZAMUNER, A.; MATHEOS, S.D.; IGLESIAS, A.; ZUCOL, A.

ALCHERINGA

Año: 2007 p. 1 - 23

A new species, Paracacioxylon frenguellii sp. nov., belonging to the Mimosoideae subfamily is here described. This taxon corresponds to petrified wood found at Palacio de Los Loros locality, in the western border of Pampa de María Santísima, San Jorge Gulf basin, Chubut province, central Patagonia, Argentina. It comes from sedimentites of the Salamanca Formation (Lower Paleocene). This new species represents not only the oldest record of wood belonging to this genus – and to the Fabaceae family in general in the western border of the Gondwana - but it would also be the second one in the world belonging to the oldest record for the Mimosoideae subfamily. Paracacioxylon frenguellii shows similarities with Mimosoideae genera from extant subtropical forests and it is related closely to the Acacia genus.