European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference 2026

The fossil record from the high-latitude realm in the Late Devonian is less well known than contemporary Euramerican deposits. With a global distribution in the Devonian, Lycopsida form an important component of any flora, for which the South African Witpoort Formation is no exception. Unusual, remarkable specimens have the potential to offer not only palaeobiogeographic information, but important taxonomic features.

Two unnamed lycopod taxa are introduced from the Upper Devonian in South Africa, both bearing sporangia adaxially on the leaves. The first is an archeaosigillariid; comprising an extremely rare fertile example from this group. It has short trifurcate leaves emerging from swollen, probably parenchymatous leaf bases. The sporangia are located on unmodified sporophylls positioned distally on the axes, and appear to have been thin-walled. This evidence supports inclusion of Archeaosigillariaceae in Protolepidodendrales. The second lycopsid has needle-shaped leaves, and bears its sporangia distally on sporophylls modified with sporangial cups. It is compared to the known rhizomorphic lycopsid diversity from the Late Devonian. These two new lycopods contribute to a unique high-latitude Late Devonian flora from Gondwana and can offer insights towards questions of floral exchange and cosmopolitanism during the epoch.