Cohaerensitheca: A new Palaeozoic marattialean genus for compression–impression plant fossils from China

Pecopteris sahnii Hsü is a common element of the Permian flora in the Cathaysian floral province ( Li and Yao, 1985), and is usually represented as an impression fossil of the sterile part of the plant. New findings demonstrate that the pinnules of the fertile and sterile parts of the plant are very similar or identical in outline and venation, and the fully developed fertile parts of the plant commonly are described as Acitheca? cupressoides Gu et Zhi from the Permian of South China.A.? cupressoides is distinct from Acitheca Schimper and the compression genus Asterotheca Presl, and for this reason the present authors propose a new generic name Cohaerensitheca to accommodate the sterile P. sahnii and fertile A.? cupressoides. For reasons of the priority the plant should be named Cohaerensitheca sahnii (Hsü) n. comb.A diagnosis of the plant is given, and an accurate description of the sterile and the fertile pinnae including description of synangia and spores in situ is provided.