Kirketapel Andruchow-Colombo, Escapa, R.S.Hill, A.Iglesias et Arbazua

Plant Fossil Names Registry Number: PFN002388

Act LSID: urn:lsid:plantfossilnames.org:act:2388

Authors: A. Andruchow-Colombo, I. H. Escapa, R. S. Hill, A. Iglesias & A. M. Arbazua

Rank: genus

Reference: Andruchow-Colombo, A., Escapa, I. H., Hill, R. S., Iglesias, A. & Arbazua, A. M. (2018): Oldest record of the scale-leaved clade of Podocarpaceae, early Paleocene of Patagonia, Argentina. – Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology 43(online)(1): 127–145., link

Page of description: 131

Type

Original diagnosis/description

Small, scale-like leaves, spirally arranged on shoots, ensiform, softly keeled abaxially, with acute apex and a continuous marginal frill only at the leaf apex, amphistomatic. Florin rings reduced or absent. Stomata in very discontinuous rows, appearing randomly distributed, the stomata randomly oriented in relation to the major leaf axis, four to five subsidiary cells arranged in a ring. Epidermal cells irregularly shaped.

Etymology

‘Kirke’ is the Mapuche (one of the Native American peoples from Patagonia) word for ‘lizard’, and ‘tapel’ denotes ‘leaf’. Thus, Kirketapel
refers to the scale-leaves of these fossil plants. Also, ‘kirke’ refers to Dr Kirk R. Johnson, Sant Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (Washington, D.C., USA) and renowned palaeobotanist; Dr Johnson participated in numerous palaeobotanical expeditions in Patagonia and discovered the prolific PL-2 fossil site in 2005.