Annalepis zeilleri Fliche 1910 emend., un organe reproducteur de Lycophyte de la Lettenkohle de l'Est de la France. Morphologie,spores in situ et paléoécologie

Numerous dispersed and well preserved lycopsidean reproductive organs have been discovered at Wasselonne (Bas-Rhin, France) in the middle part of the Lettenkohle. They were known under the nameAnnalepis zeilleri Fliche 1910 but they passed unnoticed because of a misappreciation of their structure and of their affinities. These sporophylls, which are 2,5–4,5 cm long and 1–2 cm wide, consist of a distal triangular short limb and a proximal long winged petiole which bears adaxially a single, large and tongue-shaped sporangium. According as it is a microsporophyll or a megasporophyll, the sporangium contains small monolete microspores or large trilete megaspores which agree respectively with the dispersed microspore and megaspore generaAratrisporites Leschik andTenellisporites Potonie. The cones composed of these sporophylls must have been very large as they had a diameter of at least 14 cm. Among all the known Mesozoic lycopsidean cones they are by far the largest found as yet. From their general organization and their size, these sporophylls are quite similar to those of the CarboniferousLepidodendraceae of which they perhaps are one of the descendants. We therefore place the genusAnnalepis Fliche 1910 in the orderLepidodendrales, without being able to state the family as yet. These sporophylls also look like those of some other Triassic Lycophytes (Lycostrobus, Cylostrobus, Skilliostrobus) which also produce microspores similar to the microspore genusAratrisporites. The large distribution of these spores shows that the Lycophytes and more precisely a lepidodendralean issue had an important world-wide development during the Triassic. This lycopsid flora found in the lower part of the “Marnes bariolées” of the Alsacian Lettenkohle is the first true wittness of the permanent settlement of a swampy terrestrial flora at the border of a marine environment. It follows a coastal episode with wide carbonaceous intertidal channels, reworked mud-cracks, stromatolithes and bird's eyes, typical of the intertidal space.