Paleoecology of Oligocarpia gothanii Halle from the Middle Permian of Southeastern Shanxi, North China

• Published in: Acta geologica Sinica (Beijing) Vol. 89; no. 4; pp. 1063 - 1075
• Main Authors: Xuezhi, HE, Mingli, WAN, Mengxiao, YAN, Chen, CHENG, Shijun, WANG, Jun, WANG
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Richmond Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2015; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China%State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany(LSB), Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China%LPS, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany(LSB), Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China; LPS, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China%LPS, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
• Edition: English ed.
• Subjects: China; Cloning; Ferns; Fossils; Genotype & phenotype; Habits; middle Permian; Oligocarpia gothanii Halle; palaeoecology; Paleoecology; plant taphonomy; Plants (organisms); Reproduction; Strategy; 东南部; 中二叠世; 中国; 华夏植物区系; 古生态; 山西; 植物化石; 植物生长; Oligocarpia gothanii Halle; plant taphonomy; middle Permian; palaeoecology
• ISSN: 1000-9515; 1755-6724
• DOI: 10.1111/1755-6724.12514

Fossil ferns are abundant and diverse in the Permian Cathaysian Flora of Shanxi, North China. Although plants assemblages of the Carboniferous and Permian have been extensively investigated, their palaeoecology and especially the paleoecology of ferns has not been studied in detail. Recent reinvestigation of Oligocarpia gothanii has revealed its growth habit and cloning reproduction strategy, but most previous studies lack integrated sedimentological and taphonomic data. In this study, new materials of O. gothanii have been collected from a floodplain setting in the middle Permian Lower Shihhotse Formation of southeastern Shanxi. These plant fossils were found in a lenticular claystone associated with rooting structures. They are characterized by aphlebia at the base of the penultimate rachis. Sedimentological, taphonomic and morphological analyses were conducted to understand the growth habit and ecology of the fern. The result indicates that the Oligocarpia gothanii had a prostrate, ground cover growth habit, and was dominant in pioneer floras that colonized disturbed floodplains.