Polypodiopsida - Cyatheales - Polypodiidae
The specific epithet derives from the latin word Chimaera, a creature from the Greek Mythology, which was a mixture of a lion, a goat and a snake. The name is proposed in reference to the mixture of features of different tree ferns observed in the species. Mentioned as Cyatheaceous stem by Césari et al. (2001)
Full reference: E. I. Vera. 2013. New cyathealean tree fern, Yavanna chimaerica gen. et sp. nov., from the Early Cretaceous of Livingston Island, Antarctica. Cretaceous Research 44:214-222
Belongs to Yavanna according to E. I. Vera 2013
Sister taxa: none
Type specimen: BA Pb 14981 (BA Pb Pm 597-607), a stem (a central stem (1-5.7 cm wide) surrounded by adventitious roots and helically distributed persistent petiole bases). Its type locality is Domo Rotch - Livingston Island, which is in an Aptian terrestrial conglomerate/shale in the Cerro Negro Formation of Antarctica.
Distribution: found only at Domo Rotch - Livingston Island
Specimen images are retrieved through the ePANDDA API.
Click image to enlarge. Click to access iDigBio record.