We collected nine samples from the middle Miocene of Patagonia, in outcrops of the Río Correntoso Formation (Río Zeballos Group) in north Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. Fossil woods have variable preservation and some are poorly preserved. Six samples are silicified, and three are totally carbonized. Two taxonomic units were confidently described, Cupressinoxylon sp., a conifer with Cupressaceae or Podocarpaceae affinity and Nothofagoxylon scalariforme with Nothofagus subgenus Nothofagus affinity of the Nothofagaceae. Other samples are indeterminate angiosperms and conifers. Growth rings of two samples indicate seasonality and galleries with frass and coprolites found in an indeterminate conifer are similar to those made by coleoptera and acari. The assemblage taxonomic composition is similar to other Miocene wood floras of Patagonia with conifers and Nothofagaceae.
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31 August 2020
Fossil Woods from the Middle Miocene (Río Correntoso Formation) of Patagonia (Northern Santa Cruz Province, Argentina)
Roberto R. Pujana,
Inés Aramendía,
José I. Cuitiño
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Ameghiniana
Vol. 57 • No. 4
September 2020
Vol. 57 • No. 4
September 2020
conifers
Fossil forests
middle Miocene
Nothofagaceae
Patagonia
wood anatomy