中国科学院南京地质古生物研究所机构知识库

Although liverworts are widely distributed around the world with a large number of extant species, reliable fossil records are relatively rare. Here, we report a new species, Ricciopsis baojishanensis Han and Yan, n. sp. (Ricciaceae) and an unnamed species, Hepaticites sp. from the Late Triassic Nanying'er Formation in Baojishan Basin, Baiyin City, Gansu Province, Northwest China. The generic designa-tion is based on detailed comparison of the gross morphology with related fossil and extant species. The new species is characterized by its rosette-forming thallus, dichotomous branching, ribbon-like segments and entire margins. The current fossils represent the first record of liverwort from the Late Triassic in Baojishan Basin, Gansu Province. Based on the different fossil records of the Ricciaceae, we suggest that these taxa were widely distributed during Late Triassic to Oligocene worldwide, mainly in warm temperate and tropical environ-ments, similar with their current distribution. The discovery of the present fossils indicates that the climate of Baojishan Basin in Late Triassic is warmer and more humid than that of today. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS. All rights reserved.