Pachytestopsis tayloriorum gen. et sp. nov., an Anatomically Preserved Glossopterid Seed From the Lopingian of Queensland, Australia

Abstract

A permineralized seed, Pachytestopsis tayloriorum gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Changhsingian (upper Permian) Fort Cooper Coal Measures at the Homevale locality in the northern Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia. This largest permineralized seed species yet recorded from Permian deposits of Gondwana conforms to a size accommodated by either Rigbyaceae or Lidgettoniaceae (glossopterid) fructifications recorded elsewhere in the Sydney–Bowen Basin complex. The seeds are characterized by a thin endotesta of longitudinally orientated cells, thick mesotesta incorporating an inner band of very thick-walled sclereids and an outer layer of thin-walled parenchymatous cells, and an exotesta t..