Archaeopteris (Progymnospermopsida) from the Devonian of southern Africa

Abstract

Archaeopteris notosaria sp. nov. based on one fertile and numerous sterile leafy branches is described from the Grahamstown By-Pass locality, Witpoort Formation (Witteberg Group) Upper Devonian, and represents the first unequivocal record of the genus in southern Africa. This occurrence is used, in its palaeogeographical context, to support the suggestion that climatic gradients in Late Devonian times were less steep than they are at present.