NAME Graphiolites sabaleos
AGE Sparnacian (Early Eocene).   AGE span: 55.8...48.6 mya
K&J CLASSIFICATION (2000) Basidiomycetes, Ustilaginales?, or, Fungi Imperfecti, Amerosporae?
FIGURE(S)
Image of
Pl.17fig.13.jpg
FIGURE REFERENCE Fritel PH. 1910. Étude sur les vegetaux fossiles de l'etage sparnacien du Bassin de Paris; Mémoires de la Société géologique de France, Paléontologie, no. 40, p. 5-37.
SPECIES, AUTHORITY G. sabaleos Fritel 1910, p. 12, pl. 1, fig. 12.
LOCATION Cessoy (Seine-et-Marne, France).
ORIG DESCRIPTION* I found this interesting species on a small scrap of frond tissue that I identified as Sabalites suessionensis. Of the individual specimens some are by themselves, but most occur in groups of 2-3, occasionally 4 or more; these are in close proximity to each other, occasionally even touching. The receptacles are very small, oval in section; the largest diameter does not surpass a half millimeter. On the counterpart they show a circular rim of brown color, that contrasts sharply with the color of the frond on which they are embedded. In the photograph (pl. 1, fig. 12) one can see a fairly large number of receptacles of various degrees of development. In all, the greatest diameter is oriented longitudinally, parallel to the nervature of the frond. The receptacles are mostly implanted in the space between the veins, but occasionally right on top of one.

It is interesting to find this form growing on fronds of Sabal embedded in plastic clay of Sparnacian age, since the extant species Graphiola congesta lives exclusively on the fronds of Sabal palmetto, which now grows in the swamps of the southern USA and Florida.

The presence of Graphiola [s.l.] in the Sparnacian of the Paris region thus doesn't seem to be far-fetched, and, indeed, may help to confirm a climate for that region in Early Eocene time that I postulated earlier to resemble that of the present-day climate of the cited American regions.
COMMENTS*
PUBLICATION REFERENCE Fritel PH. 1910. Étude sur les vegetaux fossiles de l'etage sparnacien du Bassin de Paris; Mémoires de la Société géologique de France, Paléontologie, no. 40, p. 5-37.
K&J REMARKS The photograph of the frond with fungal receptacles is stated to be at x5 magnification. Still, the individual receptacles are too small (about a millimeter or slightly larger) to provide any structural or cellular detail that might confirm, or not, the interpretation reached in the original description.
TYPE
ALL NAMES (Including synonyms) Graphiolites sabaleos
SERIAL NUMBER 660
PUBLIC COMMENTS
 *For source, see Publication Reference.