Araucarian conifer from late Albian amber of northern Spain

Araucarian pollen cones Rabagostrobus hispanicus gen. et sp. nov. and their associated foliage Brachyphyllum obesum Heer are described from Lower Cretaceous (Albian) strata of northern Spain. Male cones consist of helically arranged microsporophylls bearing 5-8 elongate pollen sacs with insitu inaperturate Araucariacites-type pollen. The new taxon is compared to material described previously from the Early Cretaceous of North and South Americas. Sterile twigs of B.obesum bear helically arranged leaves with wrinkled margins. Its cuticle has files of predominantly transversely oriented stomata. Both twigs and pollen cones occur as inclusions in amber from the Penacerrada 1 outcrop (alava Province), and as compressions are recorded from the amber-bearing strata sediments of the Rabago/El Soplao outcrop. Inclusions of araucariacean plant remains and the co-occurrence of amber and male cone and twig compressions suggest that the amber in these two localities, or at least some of it, was produced by araucariacean plants.