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A new anatomically preserved megasporophyll, Lonchiphyllum aplospermum, is described from permineralized peat collected on Skaar Ridge in the central Transantarctic Mountains. This new genus contains vascular features similar to those of the leaf genus Glossopteris schopfii, which is the exclusive leaf genus in the specimens in which the sporophylls were found. The vasculature of the sporophyll consists of a central vascular region with bordered pitting and anastomosing lateral bundles with helical-scalariform thickenings. Ovules are attached oppositely to suboppositely to lateral veins on the adaxial surface of the sporophyll. There is an abundance of bisaccate pollen of the Protohaploxypinus type at the base of the ovules. The ovules of Lonchiphyllum ait small (1.1 mm x 0.97 mm) and ovate and have an unornamented integument. Comparison with anatomically known ovules from Skaar Ridge, i.e., Plectilospermum elliotii, Choanostoma verruculosum, and Lakkosia kerasata and Homevaleia gouldii from the Bowen Basin of Australia, supports the classification of Lonchiphyllum as a glossopterid. The differences in the sarcotesta and sderotesta of all the Skaar Ridge ovules may indicate specialization for pollination or dispersal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A new lycopsid morphotaxon, Collinsonites schopfii gen. et sp. nov., is described from an Upper Permian deposit on Mount Achernar, in the central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. The species is represented by numerous fragments of slender dichotomizing stems. Leaves are <5mm long, eligulate and arranged in a low spiral. One stem bears leaves with 12–16 delicate spines at the lateral margins. Collinsonites stems represent the first illustrated macrofossil evidence for the presence of herbaceous lycopsids in the Permian of Antarctica. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Reveals the discovery of prehistoric remains of a deciduous forest in an Antarctican region 644 kilometers from the South Pole. Glossopteris as forest speciation; Views on the warmer climate of Antarctica in the Permian period; Specific location of the remains.