ISSN 0031-0301, Paleontological Journal, 2009, Vol. 43, No. 10, pp. 1281–1297. © Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2009. New Genus Sarbaicarpa gen. nov. (Hamamelidales) from the Cenomanian–Turonian of Western Kazakhstan N. P. Maslova Borissiak Paleontological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Profsoyuznaya 123, Moscow, 117997 Russia e-mail:
[email protected] Received December 3, 2008 Abstract—Anatomically preserved infructescences of Sarbaicarpa shilinii gen. et sp. nov. are described from the Cenomanian–Turonian of Kazakhstan and assigned to the Hamamelidales on the basis of their microstruc- ture. The infructescence consists of about 30 free broadly cuneate fruits. The fruits are monocarpellate, without stylode, and basally with hairs. The seed is solitary and anatropic. Two types of sterile elements are present: (1) semispherical structures that are comparable in size to the fruits and densely covered with rounded tri- chomes and (2) narrow linear structures reaching more than a half of the fruit length. The new genus is charac- terized by a mosaic of platanaceous and hamamelidaceous characters. The plant remains are found associating with fossil leaves of the typically Platanus aspect. Key words: Hamamelidales, reproductive structures, Cenomanian–Turonian. DOI: 10.1134/S0031030109100104 INTRODUCTION 2007; Maslova and Herman, 2004; Maslova et al., 2005, 2007). As far as the new genus shows a mosaic The systems of angiosperm plants proposed by combination of characters of these two families, and no Takhtajan (1966, 1997) and Cronquist (1981) consider molecular data are available for the genus, I follow the the families Platanaceae and Hamamelidaceae within systems of Takhtajan and Cronquist and consider the the order Hamamelidales, which occupies a key posi- Platanaceae and Hamamelidaceae within the Hama- tion within the Hamamelidae.