Lepidodendrales fossils discovered from the coal bed of the Upper Paleozoic Benxi Formation in eastern Liaoning

A number of Lepidodendrales fossils were recently discovered from the coal bed of the Xindonggou Member in the middle part of the Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Benxi Formation, along the Niumaoling section of Benxi, Liaoning Province. Previous researchers have concluded that the age of the conodonts contained in the limestone of the Fuzhouwan Member in the upper part of Benxi Formation corresponds to the Moscovian (the second age of the Late Carboniferous), whereas Suplepidodendron, Neuropteris gigantea and Conchophyllum produced in the Hutian Member of the lower part of the Benxi Formation represent the Early Carboniferous taxa. Because the Bashkirian (the first age of the Late Carboniferous) is between the Moscovian and the Early Carboniferous, it is reasonable to infer that the Lepidodendrales fossils found in the Xindonggou Member of the middle part of Benxi Formation represent the Bashkirian taxa, whereas the Lepidodendrales plants were the representative element of the coastal swamp facies in the first coal-forming period in eastern Liaoning.