Lower Permian Sphenopsids from Cerquilho, Northeastern Paraná Basin, Brazil

Abstract

The Lower Permian sphenopsids Phyllotheca australis Brongniart, 1828, Stephanophyllites sanpaulensis Millan & Dolianiti, 1980a and Paracalamites australis Rigby, 1966b, from the Toca do Índio outcrop in Cerquilho Municipality (northeastern Paraná Basin, Tubarō Supergroup) are redescribed on the basis of newly collected specimens. Some aspects, such as the leafsheath opening angles of the whorls and the foliar transverse to oblique striae or wrinkles, are discussed in detail. Phyllotheca australis and Paracalamites australis are widespread in Gondwana and have no particular stratigraphic or phylogenetic value. Otherwise, the genus Stephanophyllites, although only found in the Paraná Basin and probably in Argentina (Bajo de Véliz Formation, close to the Carboniferous-Permian limit), can have a greater importance on account of some Raniganjia-like characters superimposed to a gross Phyllotheca-like morphology.