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Well-preserved fungal spores from Jurassic rocks of Hells Canyon on the Idaho–Oregon border

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Alfred Traverse
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park 16802
Sidney R. Ash
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah 84408

Abstract

Palynoflorules containing sparse but regularly occurring chitinous-walled fungal, probably ascomycete, spores have been obtained from silty limestone nodules in the Jurassic Coon Hollow Formation in the Wallowa terrane in Hells Canyon, Idaho. The fungal spores are associated with moderately abundant embryophytic spores and pollen that suggest late Early Jurassic to early Middle Jurassic age, which agrees with dating provided by marine animals stratigraphically just above. The fungal spores constitute the most diverse such assemblage of robust-walled spores described from pre-Cretaceous rocks. Two new species of the fossil fungal spore form-genus Diporicellaesporites, D. idahoensis and D. serratulus, and one new species of form-genus Fractisporonites, F. pittsburgensis, are described.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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