Early Angiosperms from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation (Brazil), a Preliminary Report

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Abstract
Early Cretaceous angiosperm remains from the Gondwana Continent were hitherto very rare. The Aptian or Albian Crato Formation (Brazil) contains various angiosperm fossils, mainly detached leaves, but there are also impression fossils with organically connected parts. These include stems with attached leaves and sometimes reproductive structures, several follicular structures that occur both isolated and attached to their axes, and a few complete plants, probably mostly aquatics, with adhering roots, stems, leaves, and reproductive structures. This presentation is intended to give the first overview of the angiosperm diversity in structural and organizational terms of these angiosperms from northern Gondwana during the late Early Cretaceous; detailed descriptions and analyses of these taxa will be given later. Diversity is reasonably high, with close to 20 taxa. Most of these taxa might belong to the magnoliid clade, and basal eudicots might have occurred at this locality as well.