Fossil woods from the middle Miocene (Río Correntoso Formation) of Patagonia (northern Santa Cruz Province, Argentina)

ARAMENDÍA, INÉS; PUJANA, ROBERTO; CUITIÑO, JOSÉ

AMEGHINIANA

ASOCIACION PALEONTOLOGICA ARGENTINA

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2020 vol. 57 p. 289 - 301

0002-7014

We collected nine samples from the middle Miocene of Patagonia, in outcrops of the RíoCorrentoso Formation (Río Zeballos Group) in north Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. Fossil woodshave variable preservation and many are poorly preserved. Six samples are silicified, and three aretotally carbonized. Two taxonomic units were confidently described, Cupressinoxylon sp., a coniferwith affinity with the Cupressaceae or Podocarpaceae and Nothofagoxylon scalariforme withaffinity with Nothofagus subgenus Nothofagus of the Nothofagaceae. Other samples areindeterminate angiosperms and conifers. Growth rings of two samples indicate seasonality andgalleries with frass and coprolites found in an indeterminate conifer are similar to those made bycoleoptera and acari. The assemblage taxonomic composition is similar to other Miocene woodfloras of Patagonia with conifers and Nothofagaceae.