The anatoical description of silici?ed Gymnospermae woods from Upper Triassic sequences of southernmost Paraná Basin (Brazil) has allowed the identi?cation of a new taxon: Sommerxylon spiralosus n.gen. et n.sp. Diagnostic parameters, such as heterocellular medulla composed of parenchymatous and sclerenchymatous cells, primary xylem endarch, secondary xylem with dominant uniseriate bordered pits, spiral thickenings in the radial walls of tracheids, medullar rays homocellular, absence of resiniferous canals and axial parenchyma, indicate its relationship with the family Taxaceae, reporting on the first recognition of this group in the Triassic on Southern Pangea. This evidence supports the hypothesis that the Taxaceae at the Mesozoic were not con?ned to the Northern Hemisphere.
fossil wood; taxacean affinity; Upper Triassic; Paraná Basin
