Saportaea Fontaine et White 1880 – An enigmatic, long-ranging, widely distributed but rare type of late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic foliage

New material of the enigmatic plant Saportaea salisburioides Fontaine et White 1880 is described from three localities in the late Permian Umm Irna Formation from the Dead Sea region, Jordan. The preservation and the sedimentology indicate that remains from all three localities were transported over a very short distance. In one of the localities the rich leaf association exclusively comprises Saportaea remains, which show a remarkably large morphological variation. They occur together with a coaly axis with attached petioles and several isolated petioles. The specimens apparently belonged to a single monospecific stand, or maybe even a single plant. Another locality yielded a large leaf portion showing the leaf architecture. Our material leads to the conclusion that Saportaea grandifolia Fontaine et White 1880 and Baiera virginiana Fontaine et White 1880 are to be regarded as synonyms of S. salisburioides. In one locality Saportaea foliage was found in close association with Nystroemia sp., which might suggest that this fructification belongs to Saportaea. Saportaea is a long-ranging, geographically widely distributed but very rare genus that first appears in the Westphalian D (Moscovian, Pennsylvanian) and has its last occurrence in the Carnian (Late Triassic). •Enigmatic Paleozoic species emerges 50–60 Ma after only known occurrence.•Evidence for natural relationship.•New data on leaf morphology and growth habit.•Rare glimpse of a vegetation type that normally remains hidden.