Encrusting bryozoan attached to terrestrial plant leaves from brackish deposits of the Lefipán Formation (Patagonia, Argentina), close to the K/Pg boundary

Abstract

Cretaceous bryozoans from South America have received limited attention despite their sporadic documentation. The K/Pg boundary has been identified in numerous fossil-rich basins in Patagonia, where bryozoans are frequent components of the faunas. Material recovered from upper Maastrichtian outcrops of the Lefipán Formation in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin (Patagonia, Argentina) includes a unique species of cheilostome bryozoan, Conopeum foliorum n. sp., attached to leaf remains of terrestrial plants and associated with scarce euryhaline bivalves. It likely thrived in a warm climate, shallow, well-lit brackish environment influenced by tides, located along the northwest margin of the Paso del Sapo embayment. Conopeum foliorum n. sp. is currently among the earliest known bryozoans from brackish water environments, and the second oldest documented instance of a bryozoan encrusting leaves of terrestrial plants, representing the first of such finding in South America. Based on our findings and available sedimentological and paleoecological data from previous studies, we interpreted Conopeum foliorum n. sp. as a fast-growing opportunistic taxon displaying euryhaline habits and prone to colonize terrestrial plant leaves deposited in a brackish-water nearshore environment.