The Glossopteris Flora of the Belgian Congo, with a Note on Some Fossil Plants from the Zambesi Basin (Mozambique)

In the Lukuga Series, representing the Lower Gondwana in the Belgian Congo, fossil plants were first discovered in 1911. Since then an extensive material has been brought together.

The present paper is based on all available specimens of fossil plants from the Lukuga Series. A minor part of the collections belongs to the Paleontological Museum of the University of Oslo, the Institut Royal des Sciences naturelles, Brussels and the University of Louvain, while a much larger part, including all described specimens, belong to the Musée Royal du Congo Beige at Tervuren.

The megafossils are mostly impressions, while a few, from Walikale, are well preserved incrustations from which cuticle preparations could be obtained. Bulk maceration of samples of shale and coal has yielded a great number of cuticle pieces, spores, and other microfossils.

The flora of the Walikale beds is different from that of the localities of the Lukuga Valley. The fossils indicate that the Walikale beds may correspond in age to the Dwyka Series of South Africa, the youngest bed, W₄, being of uppermost Carboniferous and/or Lowest Permian age, and the assise des schistes noirs of the Lukuga Valley to the Ecca (Permian). The assise "de transition" appears to correspond to the Lower Beaufort (Upper Permian).

As new species are described: From the Walikale beds: Samaropsis boutakoffii, Walikalia (n. gen.) cahenii, Florinites walikalensis, and Fimbriaesporites major. From the assise à couches de houille: Glossopteris jamottei, Baiera plumosa, Ginkgoites cambieri, Walkomiella fragilis, Samaropsis intermedia, Cordaicarpus mucronatus, Duosporites multipunctatus, and Singhisporites africanus.

New combinations: Apiculatisporis cornutus (Apiculatisporites c. Balme & Hennelly 1956), Ginkgophyton haydeni (Psygmophyllum h. Seward 1912), G. hollandi (Ps. h. Seward 1907).

A small collection from the Zambesi River in Portuguese East Africa (Tete Basin) comprises, among other species, Samaropsis zambesicus n. sp.