Thallites dichopleurus sp. nov. from the Middle Pennsylvanian Mazon Creek Flora

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Abstract
An impression of a dorsiventral non-vascular plant (alga or liverwort) is described from an ironstone nodule from the Francis Creek Shale Member, Carbondale Formation, middle Pennsylvanian, from the Pit 11 source of the Mazon Creek flora and fauna of Illinois [USA]. The thallus exhibits 5 dichotomies along a length of 7 cm, a distinct midrib up to 0.5 mm wide, and a total width of 5.5-8.1 mm, with undulate margins. Lack of definitive epidermal characters places the thallus in Thallites, in which it is the basis of a new species, T. dichopleurus. This is the 1st report of a thalloid plant from the Mazon Creek flora, and both its morphology and depositional provenance leave open the question of algal or bryophytic affinities.

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