Not a lycopsid but a cycad-like plant: Iratinia australis gen. nov. et sp. nov. from the Irati Formation, Kungurian of the Paraná Basin, Brazil

A new fossil taxon, Iratinia australis gen. nov. et. sp. nov., is proposed based on a monoxylic anatomically preserved axis from the Irati Formation, Kungurian of the Paraná Basin, Brazil. This specimen was initially interpreted as a lycopsid, but its set of morpho-anatomical characteristics indicate that it has systematic affinity with Cycadales. Iratinia australis is the oldest known anatomically preserved vegetative axis bearing affinities with this particular botanical order. It indicates that the general anatomy of cycad monoxylic axes, as well as the armour of leaf bases and the girdling leaf traces characteristic for Cycadales, were already established in the Kungurian. This fossil is the first record of an anatomically preserved cycad axis from the Permian of Gondwana, suggesting that during the Cisularian Cycadales or their direct ancestors were already widely/worldwide distributed.