Cretaceous Widdringtonia Endl. (Cupressaceae) from North America

Reinvestigation of Cretaceous Cupressaceae sensu stricto fossils previously described as Widdringtonites subtilis Heer confirms that plants remarkably similar to those of extant Widdringtonia Endl. inhabited North America ca. 95 million years ago. Widdringtonia is restricted today to Africa, and the consensus has been that the taxon has an origin in southern Africa and an evolutionary history restricted to the Southern Hemisphere. The fossil remains of Widdringtonia from the Tuscaloosa Formation of Alabama, including seed cones, pollen cones, and attached foliage, indicate otherwise. The quadrivalvate seed cones of the fossil are ca. 5.0 mm long and 5.0 mm wide and are attached to foliage bearing decussate, scalelike to linear leaves. Comparison with similar fossils from other sites in North America, Europe, and Greenland indicate a broad distribution for the genus during the mid-Cretaceous and persistence in Europe well into the Tertiary. Fossil data indicate evolution in foliage morphology but little change in reproductive organs, except for size of seed cones, since the Cenomanian. Fossil remains of Brachyphyllum, inappropriately included within Widdringtonia subtilis are removed from the taxon and described separately.