Araliopsoides Berry, 1916

Halamski, Adam T., 2013, Latest Cretaceous leaf floras from southern Poland and western Ukraine, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 58 (2), pp. 407-443 : 425-426

Genus Araliopsoides Berry, 1916

Type: Sassafras cretaceum Newberry, 1868 ; Dakota Group , Cenomanian, Blackibrid Hill, Nebraska and Fort Hartker , Kansas, USA .

Remarks.—The name Araliopsoides Berry, 1916 was introduced ( Berry 1916: 878) as a replacement for the form genus Araliopsis Berry, 1911 , a junior homonym of Araliopsis Engler, 1896 (Recent Rutaceae ; synonym of Vepris Commerson ex Jussieu, 1825 according to Kubitzki et al. 2011).

http://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.2011.0024

Both Araliopsis Lesquereux, 1874 and Araliopsis Lesquereux ex de Saporta and Marion, 1878 lacked generic diagnosis or description ( Lesquereux 1874; de Saporta and Marion 1873) and thus were not validly published (Art. 32 of the ICBN). The type of the genus is therefore the same as that of Araliopsis Berry, 1911 , namely Sassafras cretaceum Newberry, 1868 , a widely distributed late Albian and Cenomanian species ( Berry 1911a; Crabtree 1987: 717 and references therein), not Araliopsis breviloba Berry, 1911 , as indicated erroneously by Andrews (1970).

Araliopsoides ? cf. minor ( Berry, 1925) comb. nov. Figs. 2E, 6D.

1907 Aralia formosa Heer ; Nowak 1907a: 54, pl. 2: 23.

cf.1925 Aralia wellingtoniana minor Berry , n. var.; Berry 1925: 82–83, pls. 19:4, 5, 23: 4, 5.

non 1962 Aralia formosa Heer ; Cieśliński and Milaković 1962: pl. 2: 4. Basionym : Aralia wellingtoniana minor Berry, 1925 .

Material.—A single fragmentary specimen from Potelych, L PB−K.20[.2] (formerly 7652).

Description.—Three presumed parts of a leaf (the organic connection is not preserved) are disposed to suggest a palmate arrangement. They are probably linear (width 9–15 mm, maximal preserved length ca. 80 mm; the margins are subparallel in the three preserved leaflets), diverging at an angle of 35 °. The margins are slightly sinuous; this feature might in part correspond to the original serration (left leaflet; Fig. 6D) with very small (ca. 1 mm) teeth. A strong midvein is present all along the leaf; secondary venation not preserved.

Remarks.—This specimen has been compared by Nowak (1907a) to “ Aralia ” formosa Heer, 1869 from the lower Upper Cretaceous of Starý Maletín (Moletein) in Moravia ( Velenovský 1881: 21–22, pls. 5: 2, 6: 7, 7: 2–4; see also Frič and Bayer 1902: fig. 116). Although neither specific identification is possible for such a poorly preserved material nor is conspecificity between the lower upper Cretaceous and the latest Campanian plants plausible, the proximity of both forms is very probable. The same may be said about Araliophyllum elongatum Němejc, 1961 from the Senonian of Klikov in Bohemia ( Němejc 1961) and about “ Aralia ” parvidentata Hollick, 1930 from the lower Upper Cretaceous of the Yukon valley (Alaska; Hollick 1930). Crassidenticulum trilobum Dilcher and Wang, 2006 ( Laurales ) from the Dakota Formation (Albian) of Kansas ( USA) might also perhaps be a related form ( Wang and Dilcher 2006). The material described as Debeya insignis by Herman and Kvaček (2010) from the Campanian of Grünbach is also quite similar to the specimen from Potelych. All these leaves have serrate margins.

Similar entire−margined forms were described under the generic name Sassafras (Recent Lauraceae ) (e.g., “ Sassafras ” angustilobum Hollick, 1906 from the lowermost Campanian of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; Hollick 1906: 77, pl. 29: 1–3; age after Tiffney 1977). However, these forms may belong not only to the Lauraceae but also to the Platanaceae ( Doyle and Hickey 1976: 173, 175; Crane 1989: 177–178; Friis et al. 2011: 236–237). Fritel (1914), Berry (1916, 1925), and Imkhanitzkaya (1968) interpreted some of them (e.g., representatives of the form genus Sachalinella Imchanitzkaja, 1968 ) as ancestors or members of the Araliaceae . The relationships between lobate leaves with entire and serrate margins (more or less pentalobaphylls and platanophylls sensu Crabtree 1987, respectively) are unclear.

Araliopsoides? minor ( Berry, 1925) comb. nov. from the Ripley Formation (Maastrichtian) of Tennessee ( Berry 1925) is the most similar to the described specimen in general form and serrate margins but has a higher divergence angle of the lobes (ca. 50–60 ° in all the three figured specimens). This form is provisorily accomodated within the form genus Araliopsoides Berry, 1916 , although dentate leaves (moreover, with very long lobes) should probably be segregated into another taxon.

Form group Viburnifolia Krassilov, 1979

Genus Rarytkinia Vassilevskaya and Golovneva in Golovneva and Abramova, 1990

Type: Rarytkinia terechovae Vassilevskaya and Golovneva, 1990 ; Rarytkin Formation , upper Maastrichtian –Danian, Koryak Upland, northeastern Russia .