New species of Rochipteris from the Upper Triassic of Australia

Two new species of the gymnospermous leaf form-genus Rochipteris Herbst, Troncoso and Gnaedinger are described. Leaves belonging to this genus are apetiolate, flabellate, with an entire to variably dissected apex, a truncate to slightly flaring base, and sparsely anastomosing venation. Rochipteris etheridgei (Arber) comb. nov. is documented from Carnian sediments of the Leigh Creek Coal Measures, South Australia. Rochipteris ginkgoides sp. nov. is described from the Ipswich Coal Measures (Carnian) Queensland, Australia. A single additional incomplete leaf from the Triassic Springfield Basin, South Australia is assigned to Rochipteris sp. These fossil leaves have previously been assigned to a range of genera based on leaf shape and apparent dichotomous venation. Rochipteris species represented a sub-dominant component of the Dicroidium-rich lowland vegetation across Gondwana during the Late Triassic. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.