Palynology of the Eddleman Coal (Pennsylvanian) of North-Central Texas

The Eddleman Coal (Thrifty Formation, Cisco Group) in Young County, Texas, yielded a spore and pollen flora which was classified into 37 genera and 65 species. Ten species are regarded as new and are assigned to existing genera. A single new species is described and placed within a new genus. New taxa are named and described in accordance with the rules of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (1961). On the basis of the contained palynomorphs, the Eddleman Coal at the type locality is divisible into a lower and upper portion with the upper portion being distinguished by an increased abundance of the monosaccate genus Florinites. The chi-square test is used as a means of comparing samples from different localities. No statistically significant correlations are attainable between the samples tested. The flora substantiates the Virgilian age of the Eddleman Coal. The flora has 11 genera and 20 species in common with the microflora of the McLeansboro Group (Illinois Basin) as described by Kosanke (1950) and 22 genera and 18 species in common with the McLeansboro microflora as described by Peppers (1964). The Upper McLeansboro Group is in part Virgilian in age. The species Columinisporites pepperi Stone, sp. nov., Crassispora plicata, Calamospora pusilla, and Latipulvinites kosankii have been reported only from the Upper McLeansboro, and they are present in the Eddleman Coal.