First Lower Cretaceous record of Podocarpaceae wood associated with dinosaur remains from Patagonia, Neuquén Province, Argentina

GNAEDINGER SILVIA; CORIA RODOLFO; KOPPELHUS EVA; SILVIO CASADÍO; MAISA TUNIK; PHILIP CURRIE

CRETACEOUS RESEARCH (PRINT)

ACADEMIC PRESS LTD-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2017 p. 228 - 239

0195-6671

Abstract. The first Podocarpaceae wood record is described from the Mulichinco Formation (Valanginian, Lower Cretaceous), Neuquén Basin, Argentina. The specimen was directly associated with a middle caudal vertebra of a diplodocid sauropod dinosaur. A new species -- Podocarpoxylon prumnopityoides -- is proposed based on features that include the presence of abietinean wood type (tracheid radial pitting), plus podocarpoid (cupressoid type) and some dacrydioid (taxodioid type) cross-field pits, diffuse axial parenchyma and low rays. This combination of anatomical characters is comparable to both Prumnopitys and Podocarpus, whereas the type of pits in the cross-fields resembles some members of the extant Prumnopitys. This is the first unequivocal record of the Family Podocarpaceae in the Valanginian of South America and confirms the hypothesis that the divergence of the ?Podocarpoid-Dacrydioid? clade from ?Prumnopityoid? clade occurred earlier than the Early Cretaceous.