TIDWELL, WILLIAM D.*, SIDNEY R. ASH, AND LEITH S. TIDWELL. Department of Botany and Range Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602 and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131. - Two new species of Charliea from Pennsylvanian - Permian strata of New Mexico and Utah.
Two new species of Charliea Mamay (1990), originally described
from the Upper Pennsylvanian Kinney Brick quarry east of Albuquerque,
NM, have been collected from two additional localities in the western
United States. Charliea n. sp. A is from the Lower Permian Red
Tanks Member of the Madera Formation at the Carrizo Arroyo locality
west of Albuquerque and C. n. sp. B from the lowermost
Pennsylvanian Manning Canyon Shale in central Utah. Charliea
was defined as having linear-oblong pinnae incised to form 2-4 nearly
equal lobes, and having a rather broad, oblique attachment. The
venation is simple, parallel, dichotomously branched and terminates in
the lobed margins. Slight modifications in the generic diagnosis are
necessary before these new species can be included in Charliea.
The new species differ from the genotype C. manzanitana Mamay
from the Kinney quarry in pinna shape and size, position of the
greatest pinna width, and the smaller number of veins entering the
lobes. Based on the ages of the new species, Charliea appears
to have existed throughout the Pennsylvanian into the Lower Permian in
the western United States.
Key words: Charliea, Kinney Brick quarry, Manning Canyon Shale, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Red Tanks Member