CHILBINIA GEN. NOV., AN ARCHAIC SEED FERN IN THE LATE TRIASSIC CHINLE FORMATION OF ARIZONA, USA

Abstract:  A seed-bearing pinnate leaf found in the Chinle Formation of Late Triassic age in Arizona appears to be an archaic seed fern that more closely resembles typical Carboniferous–Permian seed fern leaves than any younger form. The fossil, which is described here as Chilbinia lichii gen. et sp. nov., incorporates characters of several Palaeozoic taxa. These characters include pinnules that have reticulate venation resembling that in some species of Lonchopteris , cordate bases similar to those found in many species of Sphenopteris , and, except for a significant difference in size, linear ovate seeds that resemble the radially symmetrical seeds found attached to a species of Alethopteris in the Permian of China. The presence of this fossil in strata of Late Triassic age is further evidence that plant extinctions after the Permian–Triassic ecological crisis followed a stepwise pattern and apparently continued for at least 20–25 myr after the end of the Permian in western parts of the Triassic paratropical belt.