Late Cretaceous (Campanian) leaf and palynoflora from southern Skåne, Sweden

Abstract

A Late Cretaceous (Campanian) leaf megaflora from the Vomb Trough in southern Skåne, Sweden, has been investigated on the basis of collections held at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. The main plant-bearing locality is Köpinge, but single specimens originate from Högestad, Ingelstorp, Rödmölla, Svenstorpsmö lla and Tosterup. The fossil flora is dominated by the angiosperm (eudicot) Debeya (Dewalquea) haldemiana (Debey ex de Saporta & Marion) Halamski. Other dicots are cf. Dryophyllum sp., Ettingshausenia sp., Rarytkinia? sp., Dicotylophyllum friesii (Nilsson) comb. nov. and Salicites wahlbergii (Nilsson) Hisinger. Conifers are represented by cf. Aachenia sp. (cone scales), Pagiophyllum sp. and Cyparissidium sp. (leaves). Single poorly preserved specimens of ferns and monocots have also been identified. The terrestrial palynomorphs (the focus herein) clearly link to the megaflora, although with different relative abundances. The fern spore Cyathidites dominates along with the conifer pollen Perinopollenites elatoides and Classopollis. Angiosperm pollen comprise up to 15% of the assemblage, represented by monocolpate, tricolpate and periporate pollen and the extinct Normapolles group. The spores in the kerogen residue show a thermal alteration index (TAI) of 2+. The flora probably represents mainly a coastal lowland Debeya/conifer forest, and is similar to approximately coeval assemblages from analogous palaeo-communities described from eastern Poland, western Ukraine and Westphalia.