TERUELIA DIEZII GEN. ET SP NOV.: AN EARLY POLYSPORANGIOPHYTE FROM THE LOWER DEVONIAN OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA

A new basal land plant, Teruelia diezii gen. et sp. nov., is described from the shallow-water marine deposits of the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian-Pragian) Nogueras Formation of the Iberian Peninsula (north Gondwana palaeocontinent). Teruelia is preserved as a compression fossil and consists of isotomously branched, robust stems terminated in large, fusiform, twisted sporangia. This morphology suggests that Teruelia is very probably equivalent to Aglaophyton, a permineralized early polysporangiophyte known up to now only from the Lower Devonian (early Pragian to ?earliest Emsian) Rhynie Chert in Scotland (Laurussia palaeocontinent), which represents an early terrestrial hot-spring ecosystem. Accepted phylogenies identify Aglaophyton as sister to vascular plants. Our phylogeny-based results identify the Aglaophyton/Teruelia biological entity (i.e. Aglaophyton anatomical characters plus Teruelia external morphology) as the most direct vascular plant precursor. It shows that at least one Rhynie Chert type plant had a much wider distribution than previously known and suggests that Aglaophyton was not restricted to hydrothermal environments, unlike other Rhynie Chert plants.