Early carboniferous palynoflora from the Ambo Formation, Pongo de Mainique, Peru

Six productive samples from the upper part of the Early Carboniferous Ambo Formation at Pongo de Mainique, Peru, are analyzed for 5 5 recognized miospore species of continental origin. One new morphospecies, Cristatisporites peruvianus, is described. An emended diagnosis is proposed for Kraeuselisporites together with lists of species that are accepted or rejected for this morphogenus. Five species are transferred to Kraeuselisporites: K explanatus (Luber in Luber and Waltz, 1941 [Luber, A.A., Waltz, I.E., 1941. Atlas of microspores and pollen of the Paleozoic of U.S.S.R.. Tr. Tsent. Nauchno-Issled. Geol.-Razved. Inst. 139, 1107 (in Russian)]) nov.comb., K scorpius (Balme and Hassell, 1962) nov. comb, K dolianitii (Daemon, 1974) nov. comb., K. reidii (Foster, 1979) nov. comb., K. daemonii (Loboziak et al., 1999) nov. comb. A detailed analysis of the composition of the palynoflora allows its identification with the late Visean Cordylosporites magnidictyus Palynozone, recently defined in the Amazon Basin in Brazil. Worldwide comparison of the Peruvian association indicates greater affinity with coeval palynofloras from Gondwana region (South America and North Africa) and North America. The greatest differences exist with European and Argentinean palynofloras, although the latter are still imperfectly known. The degree of similarity is likely to be determined by paleolatitude. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.