FERN THICKETS FROM THE CRETACEOUS OF ALEXANDER-ISLAND, ANTARCTICA CONTAINING ALAMATUS-BIFARIUS DOUGLAS AND ACULEA-ACICULARIS SP-NOV

Within the Albian Fossil Bluff Group of Alexander Island, Antarctica, sheet flood deposits have preserved palaeosols with in situ ferns Alam atus bifarius Douglas and Aculea acicularis sp. nov. Reconstructed as upright ferns, with fronds arising from a creeping subterranean rhizom e, they formed thickets up to 80 cm high. Analyses of the leaf litter suggest that the fern thickets developed between a patchy araucarian o verstorey. Interspersed within the thickets there were rare podocarp s hrubs and beneath this overstorey a ground layer of thalloid liverwort s. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited