Cycadolepis, Saporta 1875 emend. Harris, 1953

León, María Patricia Velasco de, Martínez, Erika Lourdes Ortiz, Barragan, Miguel Angel Flores, Madrid, Diana Silvia Guzmán & Martinez, Pedro Christian Martínez, 2024, New records of Bennettitales and associated flora from the Jurassic of the Cualac Formation, Mexico, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 14) 27 (1), pp. 1-19 : 9

Cycadolepis aff. C. mexicana Wieland, 1914

Figure 3C

Material examined. CFZ-Cr 137

Description. Lanceolate bract impression, with four longitudinal veins, margin entire, 6.1 cm long and 1.8 cm wide at maximum, hairs 10.4–21.0 mm long and 0.4–1.4 mm wide on the margin, without apparent arrangement.

Discussion. Cycadolepis is used to name the set of bracts that likely surrounded the reproductive structures of some Bennettitales and detached with floral maturity ( McLoughlin, 2017). The species C. mexicana Wieland has been reported from the Jurassic of Mexico, and has the same shape, size, and presence of hairs as the specimen described in the present work ( Figure 3C ). However, the fragmentation of the specimen only allows proposing an affinity with this species. This genus has a cosmopolitan distribution throughout the Mesozoic (Beheresmeyer and Turner, 2022).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Fossil flora of the Rosario locality, Cualac Formation. A - incomplete leaf of Anomozamites, the diagnostic characters of the genus are observed; B - close-up of a leaflet of the same specimen; C - Cycadolepis cf. C. mexicana, towards the upper right the hairs are observed, D - and E - Zamites diquiyui with subopposite leaflets, in the approach of the leaflets strong and robust veins are observed, some of these veins bifurcate near the base. F-H - Cuticle of Zamites diquiyui. F - epidermal cells with slightly sinuous thick walls; G - butterfly-shaped stoma typical for Bennettitales; H - hooked trichome. Scale in A 2 cm; B 1 cm; C 1 cm; D 5 cm; E 2 cm; F 20 μm; G 10 μm; H 10 μm.