Equisetum ettingshausenii KVAČEK et TEODORIDIS, 2011

Kvaček, Zlatko & Teodoridis, Vasilis, 2011, The Late Eocene Flora Of Kučlín Near Bílina In North Bohemia Revisited, Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae Series B 67 (3 - 4), pp. 83-144 : 86

Equisetum ettingshausenii KVAČEK et TEODORIDIS sp. n.

Pl. 1, figs 1-3

1866 Equisetites bilinicus auct. (non UNGER 1850a nec Equisetum bilinicum UNGER 1847 ); Ettingshausen, p. 12, pro parte pl. 2, fig. 15 (non pl. 2, fig. 14, Břešťany).

2001 Equisetites bilinicus (UNGER) ETTINGSHAUSEN ; Hably et al., p. 52, pl. 62, fig. 4.

Sterile articulated flat compressed stems parallel striat- ed by vascular strands that interchange at nodes, only as broad fragments showing variously long internodes. More frequent rounded isolated nodal diaphragms 25 to 30 mm in diameter crenulate on the outline, showing the central pith cavity and crenulate cross section of the stem wall.

H o l o t y p e d e s i g n a t e d h e r e: BP 55.2366 ( Ettingshausen 1866, pl. 2, fig. 15 as Equisetites bilinicus ) illustrated in pl. 1, fig. 1.

P a r a t y p e d e s i g n a t e d h e r e: NM G 8652a

(nodal diaphragm) illustrated in pl. 1 fig.2.

R e m a r k s: Similar but narrower sterile stems of horsetails occur commonly in the European Teriary and are particularly typical of the Arctic Palaeogene (e.g., Boulter and Kvaček 1989, McIver and Basinger 1993, Budantsev and Golovneva 2009). Permineralized remains of similar morphology but with anatomical details preserved were described from the Eocene of USA ( Brown 1975). Because of a different preservation mode the material from Kučlín is proposed here to represent an independent fossil species. In the lack of reproductive structures, the systematic position within the genus Equisetum s. l. and a closer relationship to the living species must be left open.

According to Jakub Prokop (personal communication 2001) Equisetum bilinicum UNGER (1847, p. 124 , pl. 37, figs 8-9, syn. Equisetites bilinicus (UNGER) UNGER 1850a, p. 60 ) from the Early Miocene plastic clay of Břešťany (Priesen) is based on remains of insects (larval cases of Trichoptera), which commonly occur in the corresponding strata of the Bílina Mine.

M a t e r i a l: stems BP 55.2366, NM G 8651,

G 8652a, b, G 8653.

Osmundaceae