Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 51 (2), 2012, 71-84. Modena, 28 settembre 2012 The Jurassic plant fossils of the Lovisato Collection: preliminary notes Giovanni Giuseppe SCANU, Evelyn KUSTATSCHER & Paola PITTAU G.G. Scanu, Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Cagliari, via Trentino 51, I-09127 Cagliari, Italy; [email protected] E. Kustatscher, Museo di Scienze Naturali dell’Alto Adige, via dei Bottai 1, I-39100 Bolzano, Italy; [email protected] P. Pittau, Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Cagliari, via Trentino 51, I-09127 Cagliari, Italy; [email protected] KEY WORDS - Palaeobotanical collection, Domenico Lovisato, Middle Jurassic, Sardinia, Museo Sardo di Geologia e Paleontologia “D. Lovisato”. ABSTRACT - A preliminary account is presented herein of the revision of 473 slabs containing macrofossil plant remains from the Domenico Lovisato plant Collection. The latter is housed in the Museo Sardo di Geologia e Paleontologia “D. Lovisato” of the Università di Cagliari. The material examined encompasses palaeobotanical remains collected from the Genna Selole Formation and from the basal part of the Dorgali Formation, both of Jurassic age at a variety of localities in Barbagia and Sarcidano, eastern Sardinia. A reconstruction is given of the history of the collection, initiated in 1888, and the scientific studies of the flora by a variety of palaeobotanists. Based on a preliminary revision of the specimens the following genera are recognized: Phlebopteris Brongniart, 1836, Hausmannia Dunker, 1846, Coniopteris Brongniart, 1849, Cladophlebis Brongniart, 1849, Sagenopteris Presl in Sternberg, 1838, Cycadeospermum Saporta, 1875, Ptilophyllum Morris in Grant, 1840, Williamsonia Carruthers, 1870 emend. Harris, 1969, Weltrichia Braun, 1847 emend. Harris, 1969, Taeniopteris Brongniart, 1828, Czekanowskia Heer, 1876 emend. Harris et al., 1974, Brachyphyllum Brongniart, 1828, Elatocladus Halle, 1913 emend. Harris, 1979 and Carpolithes Brongniart, 1822. Some plant remains have been putatively assigned to the following genera: Ptilozamites Nathorst, 1878 emend. Antevs, 1914, Nilssonia Brongniart, 1825, Pterophyllum Brongniart, 1828 and Geinitzia Endlicher, 1847. Several of these genera are known also from the Jurassic flora of Yorkshire and from other Jurassic floras of Italy. RIASSUNTO - [La flora giurassica della Collezione Lovisato: nota preliminare] - In questo lavoro vengono presentati i dati preliminari della revisione sistematica di 473 reperti contenenti resti macroscopici di piante fossili della Collezione Lovisato, conservata presso il Museo di Geologia e Paleontologia Domenico Lovisato, dell’Università degli Studi di Cagliari. La collezione comprende resti fossili raccolti in diverse località del Sarcidano e della Barbagia, nella Sardegna orientale, e provenienti dalla Formazione di Genna Selole e dalla porzione basale della Formazione di Dorgali, entrambe di età medio giurassica. Viene ricostruita la storia della collezione e degli studi effettuati su di essa dai vari studiosi che si sono succeduti nel tempo, a partire dal 1888, anno di inizio delle raccolte e dei campionamenti da parte del Prof. Domenico Lovisato. La revisione tassonomica preliminare consente di fornire una lista aggiornata a livello generico delle forme riconosciute nella collezione, che sono: Phlebopteris Brongniart, 1836, Hausmannia Dunker, 1846, Coniopteris Brongniart, 1849, Cladophlebis Brongniart, 1849, Sagenopteris Presl in Sternberg, 1838, Cycadeospermum Saporta, 1875, Ptilophyllum Morris in Grant, 1840, Williamsonia Carruthers, 1870 emend. Harris, 1969, Weltrichia Braun, 1847 emend. Harris, 1969, Taeniopteris Brongniart, 1828, Czekanowskia Heer, 1876 emend. Harris et al., 1974, Brachyphyllum Brongniart, 1828, Elatocladus Halle, 1913 emend. Harris, 1979 e Carpolithes Brongniart, 1822. Anche i generi Ptilozamites Nathorst, 1878 emend. Antevs, 1914, Nilssonia Brongniart, 1825, Pterophyllum Brongniart, 1828 e Geinitzia Endlicher, 1847 possono essere dubitativamente segnalati per questa flora. Un numero consistente di generi segnalati per il Giurassico della Sardegna sono noti sia nella flora giurassica dello Yorkshire (Inghilterra) sia nelle altre flore giurassiche del territorio italiano, come ad esempio presso la località di Rotzo, in Veneto. INTRODUCTION from Cagliari. In 1957 all the palaeontological and mineralogical collections returned to the University and The collection of the Sardinian Jurassic plant remains, were housed in the Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e housed at the Geological and Palaeontological Museum Geologiche. During the fifties and sixties of the twentieth of Cagliari University (Sardinia, Italy), consists of century, small additions were made to the original several hundred specimens coming from fossiliferous Lovisato Collection. levels distributed over a wide area (Fig. 1) representing From this collection, 473 slabs were chosen from lacustrine-fluvial to coastal transitional environments. those collected by Lovisato and Tornquist and specifically From 1888 to 1916 Domenico Lovisato (Fig. 2), identified by Krasser (1912, 1913, 1920) and Edwards Professor of Mineralogy and Geology and Director of the (1929). Regio Museo Mineralogico e Geologico dell’Università di The aim of this study is to show the historical Cagliari, created a collection based on plant remains from background of one of the most important Italian floras of several localities in the Sarcidano and Barbagia areas of the Jurassic and to give an overview on previous studies central-eastern Sardinia; his original collection numbered carried out on the historical collection of Lovisato and about 1200 specimens. The collection was allocated in the on other specimens collected from the same area. A brief, Natural History section of the Regio Museo housed in the preliminary overview on the flora is given. Finally, this Belgrano Palace in Cagliari, property of the University. paper will show the high potential of this flora in order to Bombings in the 2nd World War severely damaged the gain a better picture of the Jurassic floras of Italy and of the collections, that were transferred to a building in Ghilarza palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstruction (province of Oristano) in 1946, some tens of kilometres during this time period. ISSN 0375-7633 doi:10.4435/BSPI.2012.9 72 Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 51 (2), 2012 Fig. 1 - Schematic map of the Tacchi area with the locations of sampling: a) Dispensa Genna Selole; b) Fermata Cignoni; c) Nuraghe Sutta Corongiu (from Dieni & Massari, 1985 and Costamagna et al., 2007, modified). LOVISATO’S PLANT COLLECTION 1902, 1904a, b; Krasser, 1912, 1913, 1920; Edwards, 1929) comprise a set of about 1200 rock slabs and only Domenico Lovisato was born at Isola d’Istria (Izola, in 73 index cards of taxa (Fig. 3). The astonishing difference Slovenian) in 1842 and came to Sardinia after he returned between the number of fossils and the small number of from the Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego expedition of the cards is due to their loss during the 2nd World War. The Società Geologica Italiana (1881-83), since the Austrian plant remains were kept in cardboard boxes and had administration declared him politically inconvenient for been numbered. From 1960 onwards, Comaschi Caria his fervid Italian patriotic feeling. He gained the position created a new inventory list when she rearranged the as Professor of Geology and Mineralogy at the Regia whole museum collection after the war. Very recently, Università di Cagliari where he died on February 1916 293 slabs, stored at the the Lovisato Collection of the after a fruitful life spent for the geological research in Museo Sardo di Geologia e Paleontologia “D. Lovisato” the field. He was very interested in Sardinian geology, (MGPDL), have been numbered in accordance to their palaeontology and mineralogy and, together with Gennari position in the ICCD General Catalogue (Central Institute (Botanist), added numerous collections of fossils and of the Catalogue and the Documentation of the Italian minerals to the Regio Museo dell’Università di Cagliari. Heritage Board). The name given in the original card often Part of the collection will be discussed here. disagrees with the taxon name reported in the inventory The materials collected by Lovisato and Tornquist and list; some cards are annotated with titles of literature, described by Tornquist, Krasser and Edwards (Tornquist, and Lovisato’s or Krasser’s or Edwards’s remarks on the G.G. Scanu et alii - Jurassic flora of Sardinia 73 Yuccites, Caulopteris and Pterophyllum (Lovisato, 1903). Sterzel suggested a Triassic age for this flora. Tornquist (1902), in his paper on the geology of Sardinia, identified Jurassic genera such as Ptilophyllum. In 1904 Tornquist studied specimens collected by Lovisato and, partly, by himself (Tornquist, 1904a, b). In these papers he identified Jurassic species such as Ptilophyllum (Williamsonia) pecten, Otozamites beani and Coniopteris cf. arguta and confirmed the Jurassic age. Few years later, Krasser (1912, 1913, 1920) studied the Lovisato Collection coming from Laconi’s sandstones and organic shales. He attributed many remains of male flowers and seeds to Cycadeospermum impressum based on the affinity to Williamsonia leckenbyi. New species, such as Cycadeospermum sardinicum, Cycadeospermum persica and Cycadeospermum lovisatoi were erected as well. The holotypes and paratypes of these species are indicated