Occurrence of Aninopteris (Matoniaceae) from the Middle Jurassic of East central Iran

Abstract

Aninopteris Givulescu and Popa 1998, a matoniacean fern originally known from the Lower Jurassic deposits of Romania, has been recently reported from the Middle Jurassic coal bearing deposits of Mazino mine, south of Tabas region, east central Iran. This is the second record of this genus, excepting its original occurrence from the Anina region of Romania. Besides the younger age, the Iranian material differs from the type material in having a higher number of sporangia, and less branched secondary veins. Thus, Aninopteris formosa var. persica var. nov. is proposed for the studied material.