Early angiosperms from the lower Cretaceous Crato Formation (Brazil), a preliminary report

Early Cretaceous angiosperm remains from the Gondwana Continent were hither to very rare. The Aptian or Albian Crate Formation (Brazil) contains variou s angiosperm fossils, mainly detached leaves, but there are also impression fossils with organically connected parts. These include stems with attache d leaves and sometimes reproductive structures, several follicular structur es that occur both isolated and attached to their axes, and a few complete plants, probably mostly aquatics, with adhering roots, stems, leaves, and r eproductive structures. This presentation is intended to give the first ove rview of the angiosperm diversity in structural and organizational terms of these angiosperms from northern Gondwana during the late Early Cretaceous; detailed descriptions and analyses of these taxa will be given later. Dive rsity is reasonably high, with close to 20 taxa. Most of these taxa might b elong to the magnoliid clade, and basal eudicots might have occurred at thi s locality as well.