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First record of a large Callixylon trunk from the late Devonian of Gondwana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 1997

B. MEYER-BERTHAUD
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Paléobotanique, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution (UMR 5554), Université Montpellier 2, Place Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
J. WENDT
Affiliation:
Institut und Museum für Geologie und Paläontologie der Universität, Sigwartstrasse 10, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
J. GALTIER
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Paléobotanique, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution (UMR 5554), Université Montpellier 2, Place Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France

Abstract

A 5 m long permineralized trunk from the Upper Kellwasser member of southern Morocco represents the first record of a large trunk of an identifiable species of Callixylon, C. erianum, from Gondwana. This occurrence constitutes the most reliable evidence based on plant megafossils for a floral connection between Laurussia and Gondwana in late Devonian times and for a proximity of these continents in Famennian times. The potential of this trunk for studies of the architecture and growth patterns of the earliest trees with a gymnospermous type of arborescent habit is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1997 Cambridge University Press

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