Equisetites sp.

Pott, Christian, 2014, The Upper Triassic flora of Svalbard, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 59 (3), pp. 709-740 : 714

Equisetites sp. cf. Equisetites conicus Sternberg, 1833

Fig. 2K.

1972 Equisetites cf. glandulosus Kräusel ; Vasilevskaya 1972: 34, pl. 1: 6, 7.

Material.— Spitsbergen: Wimanfjellet ( VSEGEI 10979-08, 10979-09); Carnian (Upper Triassic).

Description.— One specimen (part and counterpart) represents two shoot fragments, 116 mm long and up to 19 mm wide (Fig. 2 K), characterised by a smooth surface that displays indistinct broad striae towards the nodes, each ending in an acute tip. These tips are up to 8 mm long and 6 mm wide and are interpreted as the apices of the leaf sheaths.

Remarks.— Vasilevskaya (1972) assigned these remains with some reservation to Equisetites glandulosus Kräusel and Leschik, 1959 described from the Carnian of Neuewelt, Switzerland, by Kräusel and Leschik (1959). The preservation of the fossils does not allow confident assignment to a species. The description of E. glandulosus by Kräusel and Leschik (1959) was based on three fragmentary specimens, which are barely distinguishable from E. conicus (cf. Pott et al. 2008a); moreover, the characters that separate these species in the original description are rather cryptic. Therefore, the autonomy of E. glandulosus is questioned, since it is very likely that the differences between the species mentioned by Kräusel and Leschik (1959) are taphonomically influenced, and the material from Wimanfjellet is transferred to E. conicus but with some reservation owing its fragmentary condition.

Geographic and stratigraphic range.— Southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Svalbard; Carnian.