The Paleobiota of the Klondike Mountain Formation comprises a diverse suite of Early Eocene plants and animals recovered in North Central Washington State from the Klondike Mountain Formation. The formation outcrops in locations across the north western area of Ferry County, with major sites in Republic, north west of Curlew Lake, and on the Toroda Creek area. The formation is the southern most of the Eocene Okanagan Highlands, sharing much of the paleoflora and paleofauna with site across Central and southern British Columbia.
Plants
Bryophytes Dillhoff et al. (2013) reference undescribed moss specimens known from the Klondike Mountain Formation known from vegetative gametophytes and they noted them to be similar to undescribed specimens from the Allenby Formation and Horsefly shales.
Lycophytes Rare specimens of Selaginella fossils were noted by Wehr (1998), with no species level description.
Pteridophytes
Gymnosperms Three major groups of gymnosperms are present in the Klondike Mountain Formation, with the most speciose being the pinophytes. The ginkgophytes are represented by two species of Ginkgo, while an undescribed Zamiaceae member is the sole cycadophyte.
Cycadophytes
Gingkophytes
Pinophytes
Flowering plants Angiosperms, commonly called flowering plants belong to a single plant clade which diverged from other plants during the prior to the Cretaceous, and began to rapidly evolve and radiate by the Middle Cretaceous. Angiosperm diversification during the Cretaceous and Paleocene resulted in eight recognized clades that are segregated into two groups the Basal angiosperms and Core angiosperms. Present in the Klondike Mountain Formation are four of the eight groups, Nymphaeales representing Basal Angiosperms, plus Magnoliids, Monocots, and Eudicots all in the Core angiosperms.
Nymphaeales The Basal Angiosperms are represented by a single Nymphaeales water-lily species Nuphar carlquistii, though a second member, Allenbya collinsonae, has been described from the Princeton Chert. Wehr (1995) illustrated two fossils that were tentatively identified as fruits of the banana genus Ensete and the extinct myrtle genus Paleomyrtinaea respectively, however further fossil finds resulted in the re-identification of the first as a N. carlquistii rhizome section, and the second is a seed mass from the same water-lily.
Magnoliids Under the APG IV system of flowering plant classification, the magnoliids are divided into four orders Canellales, Laurales, Magnoliales, and Piperales. Member species and undescribed taxa placed confidently in the Laurales and Magnoliales are present in the formation. The laurales are the most diverse magnoliid order of the formation with one described species Sassafras hesperia plus three tentatively identified genera which have not been described. Of the magnoliales, only an undescribed Magnolia, having possible affinity with Magnolia subg. Talauma, is found in the formation, while Liriodendroxylon princetonensis has described from permineralized wood in the Princeton Chert. The extinct angiosperm genus Dillhoffia has noted similarities to the piperalean family Aristolochiaceae, but was left incertae sedis as to family by Manchester and Pigg (2008) due to a lack of confident morphological characters for placement. Piperales are known from the Princeton chert, with Saururus tuckerae representing the oldest confident Saururaceae species in the fossil record.
Monocots The second largest clade of flowering plants, monocots are divided into eleven separate orders and of those, the Alismatales, Asparagales, Liliales, and Poales are found in the Klondike Mountain Formation, each represented by a single taxon. The Alismatales are represented by the Araceae species Orontium wolfei, which is considered similar to the modern golden clubs of eastern North America, while the extinct Paleoallium belongs to the Liliales. Asparagales and Poales are both present as undescribed species associated with the genera Smilax and Typha respectively. Extinct genera of monocots are also represented in the Princeton chert by the arecalean palm Uhlia, the alismatalean genus Heleophyton, the alismatalean Keratosperma, the asparagalean pollen morphogenus Pararisteapollis, the lilialean genus Soleredera, and the poalean genus Ethela,
Eudicots
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.






