Paratatarina Vasilevskaya, 1972

Pott, Christian, 2014, The Upper Triassic flora of Svalbard, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 59 (3), pp. 709-740 : 721

Genus Paratatarina Vasilevskaya, 1972

Type species: Paratatarina ptchelinae Vasilevskaya, 1972 ; from the Carnian of Edgeøya, Svalbard, Norway.

Remarks.— Paratatarina was introduced by Vasilevskaya (1972) for slender, linear to fusiform leaves with a central vein giving off secondary veins at acute angles. Paratatarina forms an isolated taxon that, similar to Arberophyllum , differs in various morphological traits from other Mesozoic foliage. Vasilevskaya (1972) classified it as a member of the pteridosperms following Meyen (1969) and erected P. ptchelinae Vasilevskaya, 1972 as the type species. Paratatarina ptchelinae was based on two fragmentary specimens yielding well-preserved cuticles. These are regarded here conspecific with P. spetsbergensis Vasilevskaya, 1972 . Recommendations of the ICBN ( McNeill et al. 2012) require the latter to be included in P. ptchelinae . The genus was established to denote similarities to the Late Permian pteridosperm Tatarina introduced by Meyen (1969). Tatarina species appear strikingly similar to Paratatarina , not only in their macromorphology but also their epidermal anatomy; and the separation of Paratatarina from Tatarina may be questioned on this basis. However, the 30–50 Ma separation suggests these similarities may be convergent. Tatarina was regard- ed a pteridosperm by Meyen (1969) and compared to the Jurassic Zamiopteris ; however, the latter is today regarded a cycadophyte (e.g., Farr and Zijlstra 1996). The attribution of Paratatarina still remains questionable, but it is not a cycadalean. Based on epidermal characteristics, Paratatarina is similar to Arberophyllum . However, the systematic position of the latter is also unresolved, although it has generally been assigned to the ginkgophytes ( Tralau 1968; Dobruskina 1998; Doweld 2000; Pott et al. 2007d). The more or less distinct midvein in Paratatarina , however, clearly separates the genus from ginkgophytes, which never have a midvein.