MEGAFLORA OF THE PALO PINTADO FORMATION (LATE MIOCENE) SALTA, ARGENTINA. PART II

MEGAFLORA OF THE PALO PINTADO FORMATION (LATE MIOCENE) SALTA, ARGENTINA. PART II. Nine taxa of plant megafossils from the late Miocene Palo Pintado Formation and of the localities Quebrada del Estanque, Quebrada del Horno, Quebrada de Alfredo and Rincon del Horno, in southern Salta Province, Argentina, are presented. They comprise three new species, viz., Blechnum serrulatiformis sp. nov. (pinnae), Sapium haematospermoides sp. nov. and Cedrela fissiliformis sp. nov. (leaf impressions); stern impressions with leaves Lycopodiella all. L. cernua Picchi Sermoli (Lycopodiaceae), Equisetum sp. and Mayaca aff. M. fluviatilis Aublet (Mayacaceae); while Ranunculodendron anzoteguiae Lutz & Martinez (incertae sedis) is an anatomically preserved stem; rachises with pinnae is Acrostichum paleoaureum Beauchamp, Lemoigne & Petrescu (Pteridaceae) and leaf impressions Cabomba aff. C. caroliniana A. Gray (Nymphaeaceae), Caesalpinea aff. C. stukerti Hassler (Fabaceae, Caesalpinoidea). New forms for the South American Neogene are Lycopodiella aff. L. cernua, Cabomba aff. C. caroliniana, Mayaca aff. M. fluvialitilis and A. paleoaureum. Comparing and relating habits and habitats with close related extant plants, four paleocommunities can be inferred: fresh water, marsh, riparian and xerophytic forests. As most of the comparable extant plants have a subtropical to tropical distribution in South America, it can be inferred that the Palo Pintado paleoflora developed under a humid subtropical climate, with short dry stationality.