Late cretaceous angiosperm woods from the crevasse canyon and mcrae formations, South-Central New Mexico, USA: Part 1

Late Cretaceous angiosperm woods from the Western Interior of North America are poorly known relative to palynomorphs and leaf macrofossils. In this report we describe angiosperm woods from the Campanian Crevasse Canyon Formation and the Maastrichtian Jose Creek Member of the McRae Formation, in southcentral New Mexico. New taxa include Baasia armendarisense (Celastraceae), Fulleroxylon armendarisense (Myrtaceae), and Pygmaeoxylon paucipora (magnoliid of uncertain affinities). Previously described taxa include Metcalfeoxylon (eudicots), Paraphyllanthoxylon (most likely Laurales), and Platanoxylon (Platanaceae). Tree habit is indicated for Metcalfeoxylon, which is known from in situ stumps with a maximum basal diameter of 0.75 m, and for Baasia and Paraphyllanthoxyon, which are known from axes at least 0.14 m in diameter. Baasia and Fulleroxylon represent the first North American fossil wood records of Celastraceae and Myrtaceae, respectively. Baasia also indicates that within Celastraceae, the pattern of alternating regions of thick- and thinwalled fibers originated during the Cretaceous.