Two new Nilssoniocladus species from the Jurassic (Oxfordian) Tochikubo Formation, Northeast Honshu, Japan

Abstract

Two new Nilssoniocladus species are erected based on the well preserved specimens collected from the Tochikubo Formation (Oxfordian), Soma-Nakamura Group, Northeast Honshu, Japan. Both Nilssoniocladus tairae sp. nov. and N. japonicus sp. nov. are represented by long and short shoots terminally with a rosette of leaves. Detached leaves of Nilssoniocladus were piled up on the bedding planes, forming so-called 'Nilssonia' mats which suggest that the leaves of both species are deciduous like those of the type species. The slender habit of long shoots suggests that Nilssoniocladus plants are climbers.