Permian plants from the Chutani Formation (Titicaca Group, Northern Altiplano of Bolivia): I. Genera Pecopteris and Asterotheca

Fossil plants belonging to the morphogenera Glossopteris, Pecopteris and Asterotheca were collected from the upper part of the Chutani Formation (Titicaca Group), near the town of San Pablo de Tiquina, on the southeastern shore of Lake Titicaca (northern Altiplano, Bolivia). Here we report the analysis of fern-type foliage found at this location. Three species of pecopterid fronds are identified: Pecopteris dolianitii Rohn and Rösler, P. cf. P. cadeadensis Rohn and Rösler, and P. cf. P. pedrasica Read. All these species are typically found in Permian deposits of the Paraná Basin in southern Brazil. Despite the poor preservation of the material, a fertile specimen could be studied and was determined as Asterotheca sp. The paleoenvironmental and paleoecological implications of this new find are briefly analyzed.We thank Yacimientos Petrolíferos Ficales Bolivianos (YPFB), Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería de Bolivia (SERGEOMIN) and ORSTOM Bolivie for logistic support for fieldwork in Bolivia. Suggestions for improvements of the manuscript from Hermann Pfefferkorn and anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged. Research that led this report was partly supported by grants from Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia de España, ORSTOM and Petroleum Research Fund, U.S.A., to EDM, and from Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa (CNPq) to CELV. We are also grateful to Luiz Flávio Lopes, photographer of the Departamento de Paleontologia e Estratigrafia, IG-UFRGS. This report is an updated part of a Master Dissertation by CELV at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and a contribution to the IGCP Project 471.Peer reviewe