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New material of the zosterophyllopsid Gosslingia from the Lower Devonian of Guizhou, southwestern China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 April 2024

Yiling Wang ,
Lu Liu ,
Pu Huang Open the ORCID record for Pu Huang [Opens in a new window] ,
Min Qin  and
Jinzhuang Xue Open the ORCID record for Jinzhuang Xue [Opens in a new window]
Yiling Wang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Lu Liu*
Affiliation:
National Natural History Museum of China, Beijing 100050, China
Pu Huang
Affiliation:
Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Min Qin
Affiliation:
College of Life Sciences, Linyi University, Linyi 276000, China
Jinzhuang Xue*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
*
*Corresponding authors.
*Corresponding authors.
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Abstract

The zosterophyllopsids had a widespread distribution and constituted a dominant component in many plant assemblages during the Early Devonian. Although a large number of zosterophyllopsids have been documented, knowledge about the paleogeographic distribution of different genera/species remains to be expanded by further fossil evidence. In this article, new material assigned to the genus Gosslingia Heard, 1927 and designated as Gosslingia cf. G. breconensis Heard, 1927 is described from a new locality of the Lower Devonian of Guizhou Province, China. The Guizhou material shows main axes that are pseudomonopodially branched, pseudomonopodial lateral branching systems, subaxillary tubercle branches, circinate apices, elliptical xylem strand, exarch maturation of xylem, and G-type tracheids, and exhibits considerable similarities with the type and only species of Gosslingia, Gosslingia breconensis. Our finding represents the first report of Gosslingia in the South China Block and the most convincing occurrence of this genus outside of Wales, UK. Gosslingia adds to the diversity of genera shared among the Early Devonian floras of South China, western Europe, and North America, along with Distichophytum Mägdefrau, Estinnophyton Fairon-Demaret, Zosterophyllum Penhallow, and others, and indicates that the dispersal of early vascular plants among different paleocontinents was more common than previously appreciated.

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Journal of Paleontology , Volume 98 , Issue 3 , May 2024 , pp. 354 - 365
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Paleontological Society

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