Fossil Woods From Williams Point Beds, Livingston Island, Antarctica: A Late Cretaceous Southern High Latitude Flora

The wood flora from Williams Point, Livingston Island, contains 12 wood types of gymnosperm and angiosperm origin. Recent collections of material have increased the biodiversity of a postulated species‐rich vegetation. The gymnosperm wood can be readily assigned to four form‐genera: Araucarioxylon K...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Palaeontology 2001-11, Vol.44 (6), p.1081-1112
Main Authors: Poole, Imogen, Cantrill, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
angiosperm
Antarctica
gymnosperm
Late Cretaceous
wood
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Summary:The wood flora from Williams Point, Livingston Island, contains 12 wood types of gymnosperm and angiosperm origin. Recent collections of material have increased the biodiversity of a postulated species‐rich vegetation. The gymnosperm wood can be readily assigned to four form‐genera: Araucarioxylon Kraus, Araucariopitys Jeffrey, Podocarpoxylon Gothan and Sahnioxylon Bose and Sah. This indicates a diversity of coniferous araucarian and podocarp trees alongside woods of uncertain affinity (Sahnioxylon; Bennettitales). Two angiosperm morphotypes are assigned to the organ genera Hedycaryoxylon Su¨ss (Monimiaceae) and Weinmannioxylon Petriella (Cunoniaceae). The remaining four taxa of angiosperm wood cannot be confidently placed in extant families as they exhibit features that suggest relationships with the Magnoliidae, Hamamelidae and Rosidae. This paper presents the first comprehensive taxonomic revision of the wood flora from Livingston Island and discusses the palaeoecology that prevailed at a latitude of about 60 degrees south during the Late Cretaceous. Newly described taxa are Araucarioxylon chapmanae sp. nov., Araucariopitys antarcticus sp. nov., Podocarpoxylon chapmanae sp. nov., P. verticalis sp. nov., P. communis sp. nov., Weinmannioxylon ackamoides sp. nov., Antarctoxylon livingstonensis gen. et sp. nov., A. multiseriatum gen. et sp. nov., A. heteroporosum gen. et sp. nov. and A. uniperforatum gen et sp. nov.
ISSN:0031-0239
1475-4983
DOI:10.1111/1475-4983.00216