A reconstruction of the fossil palm Sabalites longirhachis (Unger) J. Kvaček et Herman from the Maastrichtian of Pyrenees

Fragmented leaf laminas were the only organ known of the fossil palms Sabalites longirhachis (Unger) J. Kvaček et Herman. Recently, isolated leaves of S. longirhachis, palm logs and rooting systems have been found associated in Fumanya, a new Maastrichtian locality from the Southern Pyrenees. This has allowed proposing a taphonomy-based hypothesis of the habit and paleoecology of these extinct palms.Fossil leaves are represented by complete laminas bearing petioles attached. Leaves and logs are parautochthonous at the base of the first coal seam of the stratigraphic succession. Rooting systems provide evidence for autochthony in coal layers formed at the top of lacustrine limestones. The tree bearing S. longirhachis leaves is reconstructed as relatively slender, of up to 14 m high, showing a smooth trunk with adventitious roots at the base and a crown keeping the marcescent leaves attached. The rooting system consisted of straight radial rootlets of about 1.5 m in total diameter. Taphonomic and facies analyses carried out in Fumanya suggest that the habitats colonized by this species were small peat mires at the lakeshores of freshwater alkaline lakes.