A new species of Nehvizdya (Ginkgoales) from the Lower Cretaceous of the Iberian Ranges (Spain)

A new species of the formerly monospecific genus Nehvizdya Hlustík, Nehvizdya penalveri sp. nov. is described from the Albian of the Escucha Formation (Eastern Iberian Ranges, Teruel, Spain). The type species Nehvizdya obtusa Hlustík was first found in the Lower-Middle Cenomanian Peruc Member of the Peruc-Korycany Formation (Bohemian Massif, Czech Republic). Both taxa closely resemble each other, not only in leaf shape and venation pattern, but also in their epidermal structures and the occurrence of resin bodies. The Spanish species, however, is notable for its marked amphistomatic leaves with stomatal apparatus, which have inner folds inside the stomatal pits. Comparison with Eretmophyllum andegavense Pons et al. from the Cenomanian of the Baugeois Clays (Maine-et-Loire, France) allows us to transfer this species to the genus Nehvizdya Hlustík. The new combination proposed is Nehvizdya andegavense (Pons et al.) comb. nov. A taphonomic analysis in this layer appears to characterise a biocoenosis formed from N. penalveri sp. nov. and Frenelopsis alata (K. Feistmantel) Knoblock. Similar associations have been described in the Czech and French Cenomanian. In all three cases, the associations grew around coastal lagoons and ponds where they formed a shrubby halophyte vegetation.