Ternstroemites klettwitzensis, Striegler, 2021

Striegler, Ursula, 2021, New Leaf Species From The Upper Miocene Flora Of The Leaf-Bearing Wischgrund Clay (Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany), Fossil Imprint 77 (1), pp. 102-110 : 106-108

Ternstroemites klettwitzensis sp. nov.

Text-figs 6 , 7

2017 Dicotylophyllum sp. 6 ; Striegler, pp. 73, 74, pl. 34, figs 4 to 6 (Wischgrund).

H o l o t y p e. Inv.-No. 19076-2 ( Striegler 2017: pl. 34, fig. 6; Text-fig. 6a, b herein).

R e p o s i t o r y. Städtische Sammlungen Cottbus,

Departement of Geology, Cottbus, Germany.

P l a n t F o s s i l N a m e s R e g i s t r y N u m b e r.

PFN002689.

E t y m o l o g y. According to the Klettwitz opencast mine, type locality of the species .

D i a g n o s i s. Lamina narrow elliptical, base acute, apex attenuate; ratio length/width 3.5 to 5.9; margin uniserrate, teeth crenulate pressed to acute with glands, in the lower area only glands. Primary vein strong, secondary veins thin, irregular brochidodromous, meandered or kinked, partly forked from the innermost third, connected by irregular arches, from marginal arches short veins running into the teeth. Tertiary veins irregular reticulate. Petiole short and thick.

T y p e l o c a l i t y. Clay pit Wischgrund near Lauchhammer, Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, Germany (devastated by Klettwitz opencast mine in the year 1987) .

T y p e h o r i z o n. Upper Miocene, Tortonian, Rauno Formation, Mühlrose Beds, floristic complex “Schipkau” (macrofloristic zone XIII according to Mai 1995), leafbearing clay of Wischgrund.

O c c u r r e n c e i n L o w e r L u s a t i a. Upper Miocene floristic complex “Schipkau”: clay pits Wischgrund and Bergheide (outcrop 2).

M a t e r i a l. Wischgrund: 56 leaves, Inv.-No. 3047-4, 3358-1, 3367-1, 3474-3, 7218-4, 11020-5, 11024-1, 11025-1, 11026, 11033-4, 11100-7, 11322-14+15, 17802-2, 17833-1, 17847-1, 17851-2, 17872-5, 17894-2 18001, 18014, 18023-1, 18025-1, 18031-1, 18042-1+2, 18044-1, 18047-1, 18049-1, 18050-1, 18051-1, 18053-1, 18056, 18058, 18060-1, 18061-1, 18063-1, 18064-1, 18070-1, 18073, 18079-1, 18080-1, 18091-1, 18092-1, 18093, 18095-1, 18102-1, 18103-1, 18105-2, 18360-1, 19076-2, 19462-16, 19835-8, 19862-1, 22721-4, 22729-1. Bergheide 2: 1 leaf, Inv.-No. 14901/370-5.

D e s c r i p t i o n. Lamina narrow elliptical, some leaves slightly curved, sides mostly convex, base acute, running down at the petiole, apex attenuate; length approx. 40 to 80 mm, width 8 to 18 mm; petiole 2 to 5 mm long and 1 mm wide.

Margin with 6 to 13 simple small teeth or glands per cm, directly at the base without teeth; above that, usually only glands; further up teeth, partly crenulate pressed with upward pointing glands or acute and obliquely diverging upwards with or without glands, teeth up to 0.2 mm protruding beyond the margin of the leaf.

Venation pinnate; primary vein strong (to 1.25 mm), straight or curved with the leaf; about 12 secondary veins on each side, brochidodromous, very rarely eucamptodromous, irregular, meandering to kinked, partly forked (partly already in the innermost third), leaving the primary vein with an angle of 40° to 70° at a distance of 1.5 to 6 mm, and connected with the next secondary vein 1 to 3 mm away from the margin by clear, usually wide irregular arches. At the base of the leaf, steep veins (25° to 35°) go off from the primary vein on each side. They lead up parallel to the margin and disappear in the fine vein network. The arches of the secondary veins are joined by irregular marginal arches, from which short veins go into the teeth. Tertiary veins predominantly irregular reticulate, also connected with intersecondary veins, in the direction of the margin of the leaf also loose percurrent.

R e m a r k s. Similar narrow leaves occur in different families.

The assignment to Theaceae s. l. is most likely, because Theaceae s. l. are characterized by brochidodromous venation. Glandular formation along the margin of theWischgrund leaves have a counterpart in strong leathery extant evergreen leaves of Theaceae s. l., while the deciduous species are characterized by fine serrate to ciliate margin (see Kvaček and Walther 1984a, b). The strong primary vein, thin secondary veins and short broad petiole are another similarity to Theaceae s. l.

The venation of the Wischgrund species is similar to that of Berberis leaves, but while Berberis leaves have acute thorny teeth, these leaves have glandular teeth, and they are also different from Berberis sp. of Wischgrund due to closer distance of the secondary veins and teeth.

Styrax leaves differ from Wischgrund leaves by parallel tertiary veins ( Schweigert 1992).

Salix leaves can also be similar, but mostly they have eucamptodromous venation and the arches of the secondary veins are closer to the margin, the tertiary veins are clearly percurrent.

The leaves cannot be assigned to any described fossil Theaceae s. l. species. In a large part of the fossil (Eocene to Pliocene) Theaceae s. str. leaves, e.g., Gordonia , Schima , Polyspora and the genus? Cleyera of the Pentaphylacaceae family, the diagnosis is based on both large morphology and leaf epidermal anatomy (e.g., Kvaček and Walther 1984a, b, Kovar-Eder and Meller 2001, Kovar-Eder and Hably 2006), which cannot be examined on the Wischgrund leaves. In addition, their venation is partially poorly preserved. Thus, the typical large-morphological features of Wischgrund cannot be compared with them.? Gordonia sp. of Kovar-Eder and Meller (2003) might be similar, but is too incomplete for closer comparison.

Because assignment to recent genera is difficult without anatomy, the new species is placed in the morphogenus Ternstroemites (type Ternstroemites eoligniticus E.W.BERRY – Berry 1916; Eocene, USA), and characterized by simple glandular teeth (after Kovar-Eder et. al. 2004).

Fossil species belonging to the morpho-genus Ternstroemites are partly anatomically documented and differ morphologically from the Wischgrund leaves.

Ternstroemites sokolovensis KVAČEK et H.WALTHER from the upper Eocene of the Staré Sedlo Formation of the Sokolov Basin ( Kvaček and Walther 1984b) is long-petiolated and has an obtuse cuneate to rounded base. Leaves of Ternstroemites floersheimensis KVAČEK et H.WALTHER from the middle Oligocene of Flörsheim ( Kvaček and Walther 1984b) have steeper secondary veins.

Ternstroemites bockwitzensis H.WALTHER in Mai and Walther (1991) from the upper Oligocene of the Bockwitz opencast mine near Borna differs in its broad triangular apex and broad cuneate base. Ternstroemites peregeri (UNGER) KOVAR- EDER et KVAČEK in Kovar-Eder et al. (2004) from the Miocene of Parschlug in Styria, Austria has a rounded base and long petiole. Ternstroemites sp. ( Worobiec and Lesiak 1998) from the Miocene of Bełchatów differs in that the arches of the secondaries go further to the margin and each gland sits in the tooth sinus.

The new species Ternstroemites klettwitzensis is established because no comparable fossil species has been found.

Figures

Text-fig. 6. Ternstroemites klettwitzensis sp. nov. a: Holotype, Inv.-No. 19076-2, scale bar 10 mm; b: Holotype, Inv.-No. 19076-2, detail, scale bar 1 mm; c: Inv.-No. 18091-1, scale bar 5 mm; d: Inv.-No. 18091-1, detail, scale bar 1 mm; e: Ternstroemites klettwitzensis sp. nov., Inv.-No. 18092-1, scale bar 10 mm; f: Inv.-No. 11024-1, scale bar 5 mm; g: Inv.-No. 18093, scale bar 10 mm; h: Inv.-No. 18093, detail, scale bar 1 mm.

Text-fig. 7. Ternstroemites klettwitzensis sp. nov. a: Inv.-No. 18051-1, scale bar 10 mm; b: Inv.-No. 3367-1, scale bar 10 mm; c: Inv.-No. 18014, scale bar 10 mm; d: Inv.-No. 18044-1, scale bar 1 mm; e: Inv.-No. 18047-1, scale bar 2 mm; f: Inv.-No. 18070-1, scale bar 2 mm.