Journal of Paleontology; May 2007; v. 81; no. 3;
p. 550-567; DOI: 10.1666/05067.1
© 2007 Paleontological Society
FOSSIL LEAF SPECIES FROM THE FOX HILLS FORMATION (UPPER CRETACEOUS: NORTH DAKOTA, USA) AND THEIR PALEOGEOGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE
DANIEL J. PEPPE1,
J. MARK ERICKSON2 and
LEO J. HICKEY1
1 Yale University, Department of Geology and Geophysics, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, <daniel.peppe{at}yale.edu>, <leo.hickey{at}yale.edu>,
2 St. Lawrence University, Department of Geology, Canton, New York 13617, <meri{at}stlawu.edu>
Seven fossil leaf species are described from impression fossils collected from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Fox Hills Formation in south-central North Dakota, USA. They are Marmarthia johnsonii n. sp., Nilssoniocladus yukonensis n. comb., Nilssoniocladus comtula n. comb., Mesocyparis borealis, Rhamnus salicifolius, Paloreodoxites plicatus, and Zingiberopsis magnifolia. These species represent some of the elements of the Fox Hills flora that have paleogeographic ranges to the northwest (N. yukonensis, N. comtula, and M. borealis) and to the southwest (M. johnsonii, R. salicifolius, P. plicatus, and Z. magnifolia) of the Fox Hills type area. The identification and reappraisal of these species represent an effort to understand the biogeographic relationships of Late Cretaceous floras across the Northern Hemisphere.
Copyright © 2008 by Paleontological Society