A N N A L E S H I S T O R I C O - N A T U R A L E S M U S E I N A T I O N A L I S H U N G A R I C I Volume 89. Budapest, 1997 pp. 11-22.

A reappraisal of the Jurassic woods from Hungary

M. PHILIPPE1 & M . BARBACKA 2

'University of Lyon-1 and UMR 5565 of CNRS Villeurbanne, France

•y 'Department of Botany, Hungarian Natural History Museum

H-1087 Budapest, Könyves K. krt. 40, Hungary

PHILIPPE, M. & BARBACKA, M. (1997): A reappraisal of the Jurassic woods from Hungary. - Annls hist.-nat. Mus. natn. hung. 89: 11-22.

Abstract - The three main collections of fossil wood from Hungary (Hungarian Geological Survey [collection in Rákóczi-telep], Department of Botany of the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest and Department of Botany of the József Attila University in Szeged) have been reviewed in search of Jurassic woods. The original slides for 14 of the 21 wood taxa ever described from the Jurassic of Hungary have been found. Xylological analysis highlights a significant synonymy rate. Full systematical and nomenclatural treatment is given. Some taxonomical and paleobiogeographi-cal inferences are then presented.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

The first examination of Jurassic wood was carried out by A N D R E Á N S Z K Y in 1 9 4 9 . On the grounds o f wood structure he established the new genus Simplicioxylon and de­scribed the new species S. hungaricum from an Upper Liassic locality in the manganese mine o f Úrkút. Investigations of the Jurassic stems were continued by GREGUSS who re­vised Simplicioxylon hungaricum (GREGUSS 1 9 5 2 ) . His further investigations also con­cerned Jurassic woods, since he was dealing with woods from Permian to recent ( 1 9 6 7 , 1 9 6 9 ) . V A D Á S Z , a geologist who payed much attention to fossil woods, presented G R E ­GUSS a lot of samples, and eventually wrote a geological synthesis about fossil woods ( V A D Á S Z 1 9 6 3 ) . Under GREGUSS' influence, some o f his students followed h im for a time in the field o f palaeoxylology. However, from among them, only K E D V E S published about Jurassic woods ( K E D V E S 1 9 5 5 , GREGUSS & K E D V E S 1 9 6 1 ) . Since the end of the

sixties, the lack of scientific successors of GREGUSS caused complete stagnation. A lot o f material has been lost and the great collections o f fossil remains and anatomical slides are partly incomplete. A t present, the main collections of fossil woods and slides are at the József At t i l a Scientific University in Szeged (partly GREGUSS' collection); at the Hungarian Geological Survey in Budapest (collection stored in Rákóczi- telep) and at the Botanical Department of the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest (some samples of A N D R E Á N S Z K Y ' s material). According to museum labels and literature C S E H -

NÉMET, K O N D A , K R I V A N , P Á L F Y , NOSZKY, SEBESTYÉN, SlKABONYI, Z. and O. SZABÓ, SZŐTS, T A S N Á D I - K U B A C S K A , T O R N Á D I and V A D Á S Z were the main Jurassic wood collec­tors in Hungary.

Since the examination o f fossil woods across the world has given extensive new re­sults regarding anatomy, taxonomy and palaeobiogeography in the recent years, Hunga­rian data needed revising and updating. Indeed, they are of interest both because the re­mains are quite numerous and because the original position of Hungary in Tethyan pale-ogeography at that time is problematic ( M I C H A L I K 1992).

The abbreviations used are the followings : HNHM = Hungarian Natural History Museum; JAS = József Attila University in Szeged; GSR = Hungarian Geological Survey collection in Rákóczi-telep.

G E O L O G I C A L SETTING

The two main areas yielding Jurassic fossil wood in Hungary are the Bakony Mountains (with Eplény and mainly the Úrkút manganese mines) and the Mecsek Mountains with several coal mines, as in Vasas, Pécsbánya, András and Kossuth (GREGUSS 1969, p. 102). Both areas are quite well known from both a geological and a stratigraphical point of view, because of their economic importance.

The first person to mention a Jurassic age for Úrkút sediments was BöCKH (1874). The study of brachiopods (BöCKH 1878), microfauna (SlDÓ & SIKABONYI 1953) and ammonoids (GÉCZY 1968) defined the age of manganese-bearing ores as Upper Liassic. The results of paleoxylological examinations confirmed this age (GREGUSS 1952) and, on the basis of the structure of annual rings, suggested a uniformly warm climate. This fits the palynological study of this locality by KEDVES (1990), who gave a microstratigraphical and vegetational scheme for the Úrkút sedimentary basin. In this paper, KEDVES distinguished four main vegetational zones: a) open swamp facies near shore with algae and Pteridophyta spores; b) Classopollis facies (a taxa related to Cheirolepidiaceae); c) Cycadaceae - Cheirolepidiaceae - Taxaceae mixed facies and d) Spheripollenites facies with com­mon cycadeous pollens.

In the Mecsek Mountains, fossil plants are found in layers between certain coal beds. The age of the coal measures was first determined as Lower Liassic in the last century (Hantken 1878). This was confirmed by later geological (PAÁL-SOLT 1969, NAGY E. 1969), paleontological ( N A G Y I . Z. 1970, SZENTÉ 1992) and palynological (GÓCZAN 1956, BÓNA 1983) examinations. The coal measures have been divided into three age zones (Upper Triassic, Hettangian and Sinemurian), characterized on the grounds of pollen and sporomorph analysis (BONA 1983). However, the mac-roflora is collected only in the Hettangian layers, as these are the only ones with coal layers thick enough to be exploited. Coal analysis (PAÁL-SOLT 1969) and palynological investigations (BONA 1963) show that coal seams represent uniform swamp forest accumulation. The occurring plants belong to horsetails, ferns, seed ferns, cycads, ginkgoales and conifers. The sedimentation was of delta plain type, under a warm and wet climate. This is also reflected by the rich macroflora (mainly leaves), that shows plant adaptation to such conditions (BARBACKA 1994a).

RESULTS OF T H E R E V I E W

According to our knowledge 21 Hungarian Jurassic wood taxa with specific ranks have been described. Some are actually reworked into Early Cretaceous deposits (in Úrkút) . We managed to investigate the original material of 14 from these 21 taxa. There is a high rate o f synonymy, probably as these Hungarian fossil woods have always been studied by neoxylologists, who are easily confused by some bias due to fossilization. The taxonomical review unites the 14 revised taxa under 9 names only.

We tried to put the reviewed slides and previously described, unequivocally in rela­tionship. I t has not been easy, as accurate labels usually lacked and as many photographs are obviously touched up (especially in G R E G U S S 1967). Detailed comparisons of slides and illustrations, although time consuming, gave good results. However, it must be noted that some slide sets in the collections may be composite. Taxonomical synonymy for each taxon is given only with Hungarian woods.

Among the material we reviewed, some samples are impossible to attribute to any previously described taxa, or to any genera, because of their bad preservation. These are: S6, set of 6 slides in JAS, labelled "Úrkút, felső liász, I I akna" [Úrkút, Upper Liassic, I I shaft]; this wood is too deeply altered for generic determination. S8, set of 2 slides in JAS, labelled "Cseh, N . , 1962, Úrkút, Lejtős akna, szenesedéit fatörzs apti agyagban" [ C S E H , N . , 1962, Úrkút Lejtős shaft, coalified trunk in the Aptian clay (now Albian clay) this wood looks very much like pi 13 f ig. 6-9 in GREGUSS (1967), illustrating his Arau-carioxylon sp. 4, but the slide labels do not f i t wi th the GREGUSS' indications of proven­ance; we have not been able to find xylologic details to put this set S8 in relationship wi th any described wood; conservation is too poor for determination. S9, set of 3 slides in JAS, labelled "Krivan D. , 1960, Pécs, Gyárváros , alsó l iász" [ K R I V A N D. , 1960, Pécs , Gyárváros , Lower Liassic]; preservation is too poor for determination.

Genus Agathoxylon H A R T I G , 1848

Agathoxylon agathiforme ( K E D V E S ) comb. n.

Nomenclatural synonymy: 1956 Dadoxylon agathiforme KEDVES, p. 3, Úrkút, Upper Liassic.

Taxonomical synonymy: 1967 Agathoxylon mecsekense GREGUSS, p. 20, pi. 8 fig. 1-11, Úrkút, Upper Liassic; slides seen in

JAS. 1967 Araucarioxylon resiniferum GREGUSS, p. 21, pi. 9 fig. 1-10, Úrkút, Upper Liassic; slides seen

in JAS. 1967 Brachyoxylon sp. seu Dadoxylon sp. seu Baieroxylon sp. GREGUSS, p. 33, pi. 21 fig. 1-10, Ist­

ván shaft. Úrkút, Upper Liassic; slides seen in JAS. 1967 Torreyoxylon boureaui GREGUSS, p. 44, pi. 32 fig. 1-11, Lejtős shaft, Úrkút, Aptian; slides

seen in JAS.

Material attributed to this species : ?A - sample Bx 533 in GSR, labelled "leg. L. Sikabonyi, Úrkút"; no slides were found that

could be associated with this sample; however the label fits with KEDVES' indications (1955: 3). B - sample S2 (4 slides) in JAS, labelled "Úrkút, szenesedett fatörzs, Vadász E. ajándéka, Ist­

ván akna" [Úrkút, wood from VADÁSZ E., István shaft, coalified material]; the detail of pl. 21 fig. 2 (GREGUSS 1967) has been found on slides; radial pits are commonly biseriate and alternate, some­times even triseriate; rays never have the Simplicioxylon structure; material is coalified and thus may correspond to the coalified sample given by VADÁSZ to ANDREÁNSZKY in 1948, or to the one VADÁSZ gave to GREGUSS (GREGUSS 1952: 166).

? C - set of slides numbered 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 in HNHM, labelled "Araucarioxylon, Úrkút, leg Szőts"; as far as can be said from the badly preserved slides, this wood may be included there; this material is coalified and thus may also correspond to the coalified samples given by V A ­DÁSZ to ANDREÁNSZKY in 1948 and to GREGUSS; however no mention is made of SZŐTS in the orig­inal papers (ANDREÁNSZKY 1949, GREGUSS 1952).

D - sample S3 (4 slides) in JAS, labelled "Úrkút, 1948, mangánérces agyag" [Úrkút 1948, manganese clay]; detail of pi. 9 fig. 2 in GREGUSS (1967), illustrating Araucarioxylon resiniferum, has been found on slides; the xylologic characteristics fit with those of Agathoxylon agathiforme; otherwise the slides are not at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest as GREGUSS said (1967: 22), but in József Attila University in Szeged.

E - sample S4 (3 slides) in JAS, labelled "Úrkút, István akna, leg Vadász 1950" [Úrkút, Ist­ván shaft, leg VADÁSZ 1950]; the detail of pl. 8 fig. 2 in GREGUSS (1967), illustrating Agathoxylon mecsekense, has been found on slides; amazingly GREGUSS gave the epithet mecsekense "since it was found in the Mecsek". He further wrote that the sample originated from the István shaft in Úrkút, a locality actually in the Bakony Mountains; the slides being labelled "Úrkút", we consider that the original locality is thus Úrkút, and not the Mecsek Mountains.

F - S7, set of 3 slides in JAS, labelled "Cseh N., 1962, Úrkút, I I I akna, északi vágat, szenese­dett fatörzs, apti agyag" [Cseh N., 1962, Úrkút, I I I shaft, northern gallery, coalified trunk, Aptian clay (now Albian clay)]; the detail of pi. 32 fig. 2, illustrating Torreyoxylon boureaui in GREGUSS (1967), has been found on slides; this partly silicified sample is probably reworked from Liassic layers.

Agathoxylon sp. 1

Nomenclatural synonymy: 1967 Araucarioxylon sp. 7 GREGUSS, p. 27, pi. 15 fig. 1-9, Vasas, Upper Dogger.

Material attributed to this taxon: sample Bx82 (11 slides) in GSR, labelled "Greguss, felső dogger or liász, Pécs, Vasas I , Araucarioxylon sp. 7, Kőszénöszlet" [GREGUSS, Upper Dogger or Liassic, Pécs, Vasas I , Araucarioxylon sp. 7, coal measure]; the preservation is poor, but the wood can confidently be refered to Agathoxylon; contrary to what GREGUSS (1967) stated, radial pits can locally be biseriate (see also GREGUSS 1967, pi. 15, fig. 5); all the slide labels mention the age as Lower Jurassic, thus the age of the sample is controversial.

Agathoxylon sp. 2

Nomenclatural synonymy: 1967 Araucarioxylon sp. 10 GREGUSS, p. 29, pi. 17 fig. 1-9, Kossuth shaft, Komló, Mecsek, Lower

Liassic.

Material attributed to this taxon: sample Bx95 (17 slides) in GSR, labelled "Araucarioxylon sp. 10, Greguss, leg. Pálfy, 1957, alsó liász, Komló, Kossuth akna" [Araucarioxylon sp. 10, GRE­GUSS, leg. PÁLFY, 1957, Lower Liassic, Komló, Kossuth shaft]; the bad preservation of this wood only permits generic attribution.

? Agathoxylon sp. 3

Nomenclatural synonymy: 1967 Araucarioxylon sp. 2 GREGUSS, p. 24, pi. 12 fig. 5-9, Pécsbányatelep, Early Liassic.

Material attributed to this taxon: SI 1, set of 4 slides in JAS, labelled "Pécs, 175, István shaft, Early Liassic"; the detail of pi. 12 fig. 5 in GREGUSS (1967) has been found on slides; radial pits are uniseriate, araucarian, chain forming; cross-fields not observed.

? Agathoxylon sp. 4

Nomenclatural synonymy:. 1967 Araucarioxylon sp. 5 GREGUSS, p. 25, pi. 14 fig. 1-7, Villány, Upper Dogger.

Material attributed to this taxon: sample Bx84 (6 slides) in GSR, labelled "Araucarioxylon sp. 5, kallóvi, Cornbrash" [Araucarioxylon sp. 5, Callovian, Cornbrash, (now Pliensbachian)]; the wood is poorly preserved; the radial pitting is, as far as we can judge, of araucarian type; cross-fields are not good enough preserved.

? Agathoxylon sp. 5

In GSR, the sample Bx45 is labelled "Szabó Z, 1971, jura, Úrkút I I akna, Agathoxylon sp." [SZABÓ Z, 1971, Jurassic, Úrkút I I , shaft, Agathoxylon sp.]. As there is not any slide associated with the hand specimen, we cannot consider properly this determination.

Genus Araucarioxylon K R A U S in SCHIMPER, 1870

We quote there, under their original name, some samples we did not manage to find in the collections we saw, although this genus is invalid (PHILIPPE 1993).

Araucarioxylon sp. GREGUSS, 1952

Nomenclatural synonymy: 1952 Araucarioxylon sp. GREGUSS, p. 170, pl. 10 fig. 13-15, Úrkút, István shaft, Toarcian. 1967 Araucarioxylon sp. 6 GREGUSS, p. 26, pi. 14 fig. 8-9.

Nomenclatural note: although this synonymy is not explicitely given by GREGUSS (1967), fig. 13 and 15 in the first publication (1952) illustrate the second one (1967), just turned up-side-down.

Material probably related to this taxon: sample Bx35 (2 slides) in G S R , labelled "Araucariox­ylon sp., Úrkút, GREGUSS P."; although marqued with a red 4, these slides cannot be the source for pi. 13 fig. 6-9, illustrating Araucarioxylon sp. 4 in GREGUSS (1967); the wood is amazingly similar to pi. 10 fig. 13-15, illustrating Araucarioxylon sp. in GREGUSS (1952), although we did not found the detail of pictures on the badly preserved slides; Bx35 shows a mixed type radial pitting, with pits half uniseriate half biseriate, and, in some cases only, triseriate; preserved early wood cross-fields have not been observed, but late wood shows cross-fields with an unique cupressoid oculi-pore; Bx35, in itself, is not determinable without further investigations.

Araucarioxylon sp. 4 GREGUSS, 1 9 6 7

Nomenclatural synonymy:. 1967 Araucarioxylon sp.4, GREGUSS, p. 25, pi. 13 fig. 6-9, Úrkút, Upper Liassic.

Material attributed to this taxon: nothing reliable found; perhaps S8 in JAS, see below.

Genus Baieroxylon GREGUSS, 1 9 6 1 Baieroxylon lindicianum ( K H A N ) PHILIPPE, 1 9 9 5

Nomenclatural synonymy:. 1961 Araucariopitys lindicianum K H A N , p. 114, pi. 45 fig. 5 and 6, pi. 46 fig. 1 and 2, text fig. 3,

Lindich, Germany, Lower Liassic.

Material possibly related to this species: the set of slides numbered 23/276/x-72/6964, 24/276/X-73/6964 and 25/276/x-74/6964 in HNHM is probably related to this species (however we did not observe the typical tracheid curvature along rays); radial pitting is of mixed type, mostly uniseriate, radial pits forming small or long chains; cross-fields are of araucarioid type;, the wood does not show the characteristics of Simplicioxylon; it is labelled "Eplény, kovasodott fatörzs" [Eplény, silicificd wood].

Genus Callitrixylon H A R T I G , 1848 Callitrixylon hungaricum GREGUSS, 1 9 6 9 , nomen nudum

Material attributed to this taxon: sample Bx83 (3 slides) in GSR, labelled "Callitrixylon hun­garicum Greguss, Pécsbányatelep, jura, András akna, alsó liász". [Callitrixylon hungaricum GRE­GUSS, Pécsbányatelep, Jurassic, András shaft, Lower Liassic].

Note: this wood, poorly preserved, was only briefly mentioned by GREGUSS (1969: 102); accord­ing to our observations this wood is probably conspecific with Platyspiroxylon sp. 2 GREGUSS 1967.

Genus Protelicoxylon PHILIPPE, 1995 Protelicoxylon parenchymatosum (GREGUSS) PHILIPPE, 1995

Nomenclatural synonymy:. 1967 Platyspiroxylon parenchymatosum GREGUSS, p. 47, pi. 92-94, István shaft, Úrkút, Upper

Liassic. 1995 Protelicoxylon parenchymatosum (GREGUSS) PHILIPPE, p. 71.

Material attributed to this species: sample Bx37 (7 slides) in GSR, labelled "Platyspiroxylon parenchymatosum, P. Greguss, Úrkút, István akna" [Platyspiroxylon parenchymatosum, P. GRE­GUSS, Úrkút, István shaft] the only cross section, badly preserved, does not fit at all with pi. 42 fig. 1 in GREGUSS (1967); otherwise careful observation of the other slides confirm the attribution of this sample to Protelicoxylon.

Genus Platyspiroxylon GREGUSS, 1961 Platyspiroxylon sp.

Nomenclatural synonymy: 1967 Platyspiroxylon sp. 2 GREGUSS, p. 50, pi. 95 et 96, Pécsbányatelep, Mecsek, Lower Liassic.

Material attributed to this species: we did not find any material reliably related to this name; because of the lack of material we cannot say if this wood belongs to Protelicoxylon.

Genus Podocarpoxylon GOTHAN, 1905 ? Podocarpoxylon sp. GREGUSS, 1952

Nomenclatural synonymy: 1952 Podocarpoxylon ? GREGUSS, p. 173, pi. 1 2 fig, 3 1 - 3 4 , Villány, Lower Liassic (Callover

Stock).

Material attributed to this species: we did not find any material reliably related to this name. Note: curiously this wood is not mentioned in GREGUSS (1967) ; what is the relationship with

GREGUSS' Araucarioxylon sp. 5 ?

Genus Prototaxodioxylon VOGELLEHNER, 1968 Prototaxodioxylon sp.

Nomenclatural synonymy: 1958 Taxodioxylon sp. GREGUSS & KEDVES, pl. 1 and 2, Pécsbányatelep, Lower Liassic.

Taxonomical synonymy:. ? Protosciadopityoxylon boureaui NADJAFI (unpublished thesis, 1982); this wood from the

Upper Liassic or Early Dogger of Northern Iran has similar xylological features.

Material attributed to this taxon: sample SI (3 slides) in JAS, labelled 'Técsbányatelep, An­drás akna, 6. szint, 7. réteg, fővágat" [Pécsbányatelep, András shaft, 6th. level, 7th layer, main galery]; detail of pl. 1 fig. 1 in GREGUSS & KEDVES (1961) has been found on slides; the sample anatomy, with mixed pitting and taxodioid cross-fields, clearly points out the genus Prototaxodi­oxylon. Otherwise we have collected a sample with a similar anatomy in Vasas, Mecsek Mountains. It is currently under study and numbered MP 674 in the Laboratoire de Paléobotanique of Lyon-1 University, France.

Genus Pteridospermaexylon GREGUSS, 1952 Pteridospermaexylon theresiae GREGUSS, 1952

Nomenclatural synonymy: 1952 Pteridospermaexylon theresiae GREGUSS, p. 171, pi. 12 fig. 35, pi. 13 fig. 36-44, text fig.,

Vasas, Lower Liassic, VADÁSZ collector.

Material attributed to this species: we did not find any material reliably related to this name.

Genus Simplicioxylon ANDREÁNSZKY, 1949 Simplicioxylon hungaricum ANDREÁNSZKY, 1949

Detailed nomenclatural and taxonomical synonymy is given in PHILIPPE (1995). The follow­ing is limited to Hungarian material.

Nomenclatural synonymy: 1949 Simplicioxylon hungaricum ANDREÁNSZKY, p. 250, text-fig. 1-6. 1952 Araucarioxylon hungaricum (ANDREÁNSZKY) ANDREÁNSZKY ex GREGUSS, p. 157 (according

to a pers. comm.). 1952 Agathoxylon hungaricum(ANDREÁNSZKY) GREGUSS, p. 157, pi. 9, pi. 10 fig. 10-12. 1963 Agathoxylon hungaricum (ANDREÁNSZKY) emend GREGUSS, VADÁSZ, p. 523.

Taxonomical synonymy: 1967 Brachyoxylon urkutense GREGUSS, p. 31, pi. 20 fig. 1-9. Slides seen in JAS. 1967 Araucarioxylon sp. 13 GREGUSS, p. 30, pi. 11 fig. 1-9, Úrkút. Slides seen in JAS. 1974 Pseudagathoxylon eplenyense GREGUSS, p. 167, pi. 1-7, Eplény, Jurassic. Slides seen in

GSR.

Material attributed to this species: A - set of slides numbered 28/288.103/8637, 27/288.104/8637 and 28/288.105/8637 in

HNHM, from Eplény, collected by NOSZKY; probably corresponding to the sample mentioned by ANDREÁNSZKY ( 1949).

B - slides 21/278/X-84 and 22/28l/x-91 in HNHM, from Eplény, both labelled "Nagy törzs, alsó kréta, Földtani Geol. Inst." [great trunk, Lower Cretaceous, Hungarian Geological Survey].

C - set of slides numbered II/l/272/34, II/3/272/26, II/4/272/37, and II/5/272/38 in HNHM, from Úrkút, collected in 1949 and labelled as Araucarioxylon; this pale silicified material probably corresponds to one of the samples ANDREÁNSZKY got in 1949.

E - set of slides numbered 270/x-1, 270/x-2, 270/x-3 and 27/x-4 in HNHM, labelled "Vadász, 1948, Úrkút, Alsó-Kréta [Lower Cretaceous]"; the lectotype, as said above.

F - sample Bxl3 (5 slides) in GSR, labelled "Pseudagathoxylon eplenyense, det. GREGUSS, coll. TASNÁDI & KONDA, Eplény, liász [Liassic]"; we refer this wood to Simplicioxylon hungari­cum; amazingly the cross section looks much more collapsed than the longitudinal ones; owing to the collapsed nature of the unique transversal slide, this cannot have been the source for pl. 1 in GREGUSS (1972); otherwise it was impossible to find on the slides the characteristic patterns of pl. 1 fig. 3 or pi. 2 fig. 4 in GREGUSS (1972).

G - sample Bxl4 (4 slides) in GSR, labelled "Pseudotaxodioxylon eplenyense, det. Greguss, coll. Tasnádi & Konda, Eplény, liász [Liassic]"; this wood has all the characteristics of Simpliciox­ylon hungaricum; the name is, to our knowledge, unpublished.

H - sample Bx36 (18 slides) in GSR, labelled "Agathoxylon hungaricum (Andreánszky) Gre­guss, det. P. Greguss, István akna, Vadász" [Agathoxylon hungaricum (ANDREÁNSZKY) GREGUSS, det. P. GREGUSS, István shaft, VADÁSZ]; the detail of pi. 6 fig. 1 in GREGUSS (1967) has been found on the slide; this material is also probably the original to pi. 9 and 10 in GREGUSS (1952) as there are several common pictures.

I - S5, set of 3 slides in JAS, labelled "Úrkút, 1948, kovasodott fatörzs, agyag, mangán réteg fölött" [Úrkút, 1948, silicified trunk, clay over the manganese layer]; detail of pi. 20 fig. 3, illustrat­ing Brachyoxylon urkutense in GREGUSS (1967), has been found on slides ; the wood is well preserved, and unequivocally typical of Simplicioxylon hungaricum.

J - S10, set of 3 slides in JAS, labelled "2" Úrkút, 174, Cseh-Német J., kovasodott fatörzs, mangánérc" [2" Úrkút, 174, CSEH-NÉMET J., silicified trunk from the manganese ore]; xylologi-cally typical of Simplicioxylon hungaricum.

K - S12. set of 3 slides in JAS, labelled "Úrkút, 173, 1" , Cseh-Német J., kovasodott fatörzs, mangánérc" [ 1 " Úrkút, 173, CSEH-NÉMET J., silicified trunk from the manganese ore]; the detail of pl. 11 fig. 1, illustrating Araucarioxylon sp. 13 in GREGUSS (1967), has been found on the slides; otherwise a typical Simplicioxylon hungaricum from xylological evidence.

Notes: In his original work, ANDREÁNSZKY (1949) mentioned several samples. Two were given to him by VADÁSZ in 1948, one was lignitifted, the other silicified. ANDREÁNSZKY then got two further samples in 1949, from a trunk found in Úrkút. At last the Geological Institute lent him a silicified sample, found by NOSZKY in Eplény. The silicified trunk sampled by VADÁSZ in 1948 has been choosen as the lectotype by PHILIPPE (1995). GREGUSS (1952, p. 165, pi. 9 fig. 1-9, pi. 10 fig. 10-12; and 1967, p. 19, pi. 6) First studied another sample, given by VADÁSZ of the lectotype, and then the original slides of ANDREÁNSZKY.

In the holotype collection of palaeobotanical collection in Budapest, two samples, 54.488.3 from Eplény and 54.479.1 from Úrkút, are quoted as the holotypes for "Araucarioxylon hungari­cum" (sic). These two samples are not cut, so they are surely not the ones from which the original slides were made. For this reason, we think the art. 8 of International Code of Botanical Nomencla­ture (GREUTER & M C N E I L 1994), should not be applied and we kept the lectotype chosen in 1995 (see also art. 9.1 and 9.4). In the wood slides collection of the same collection, many slides can be referred to Simplicioxylon hungaricum. However, none is clearly labelled as a type. Fortunately enough we found on slide 270/x-2 the detail of fig. 3 by ANDREÁNSZKY (1949). Thus we assume that the set of 4 slides numbered 270/x-1, 270/x-2, 270/x-3 and 270/x-4 is actually the lectotype for Simplicioxylon hungaricum.

DISCUSSION

The first set of inferences from this study are taxonomical. Torreyoxylon boureaui G R E G U S S ( 1 9 6 7 ) is the generotypus ( W A T T 1 9 8 2 ) . Thus, as we refer the original material corresponding to this name to Agathoxylon, Torreyoxylon GREGUSS becomes a junior taxonomic synonym of Agathoxylon H A R T I G . I f the name Torreyoxylon has to be con­served, a selection of neotype is necessary (Art. 14 .8 of the Code). Equally, Pseudaga­thoxylon becomes a junior taxonomic synonym o f Simplicioxylon. The lectotype of Sim­plicioxylon hungaricum, an important species for the Liassic of Europe has been re­covered. I t is confirmed as a well preserved, and thus suitable, wood. Through careful investigation of the slides, 1 4 binomials have been related to their type material.

Some paleobiogeographical notes are also of interest. Apart from two poorly preserved woods from Villány, paleoxylological data for the Jurassic of Hungary are ac­tually confined to only two areas: the Bakony Mountains with the localities of Úrkút and Eplény and the Mecsek Mountains wi th the localities of Pécsbányate lep, Vasas and K o m l ó (Table 1). A l l the material is found within the Liassic, except for some silicified samples found within Úrkút Aptian Clay. However, it seems highly probable that these are actually reworked from underlying Liassic deposits. Wood data from these two areas do not overlap stratigraphically : Úrkú t area data are Late Liassic in age whereas the Pécs area yielded samples from Early Liassic. So one has to be careful when comparing the two paleoxyloflora. Up-to-now these do not have any common genera. Moreover, Simpli-

Table 1 . Jurassic woods in Hungary

Species Mecsek Mts Bakony Mts

Agathoxylon agathiforme - +

Agathoxylon sp. 1 (= Araucarioxylon sp. 7 Greguss 1967) + -

Agathoxylon sp. 2 (= Araucarioxylon sp. 10 Greguss 1967) + -

? Agathoxylon sp. 3 (= Araucarioxylon sp. 2 Greguss 1967) +

1 Agathoxylon sp. 4 (= Araucarioxylon sp. 5 Greguss 1967) +

1Agathoxylon sp. 5 (sample from Szaboz, 1971) - +

Araucarioxylon sp. Greguss 1952 - +

Araucarioxylon sp. 4 Greguss 1967 - +

Baieroxylon lindicianum - +

Callitrixylon hungaricum + —

Protelicoxylon parenchymatosum - +

Platyspiroxylon sp. + -

'?Podocarpoxylon sp. + -

Prototaxodioxylon sp. + -

Pteridospermaexylon theresiae + -

Simplicioxylon hungaricum - +

cioxylon hungaricum, a very common species in Úrkút area, was never found in the Pécs

area, while i t is known for Early Liassic in France, Denmark and Germany ( P H I L I P P E

1995).

On the other hand, the species in the Pécs area have not been found elsewhere to our

knowledge. The xyloflora o f the Pécs area may look poorer, wi th only two taxa. How­

ever this is probably a bias due to the poor preservation. Indeed, Hettangian palaeoflora

in the Pécs area, as seen by leaf imprints, is rich and diverse (BARBACKA 1991, 1992,

1994b), but wood is generally poorly preserved.

I t is also amazing that Xenoxylon has never been found in Hungary. This genus is

widespread, during the Lias: France, England, Germany, Poland and eastward to Khazak-

stan and Japan ( P H I L I P P E 1995). As this genus was related to wet temperate mires ( P H I ­

LIPPE & THÉVENARD 1996), the Liassic climate o f Hungary was probably unsuitable for

it. It is also noteworthy that the genus Agathoxylon is common in Úrkút deposits, where­

as in all the rest of Europe there are only two known Liassic occurrences, in Germany

and in France, both from the Lower Toarcian.

* * *

Acknowledgements - The authors wish to express their thanks to Mrs. JUDIT B A L Ó (Rákóczi­telep), Dr. ERZSÉBET M I H A L I K (Szeged) Prof. Dr. MIKLÓS KEDVES and Mr. PÉTER SZINAI (Buda­pest) for their help in collection reviewing. We would like to thank Mr. MIKLÓS GÁL (Komló), for his contribution during field collecting.

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