Geo.Alp, Vol. 3, S. 47–53, 2006 OLD TREASURES NEWLY DISCOVERED: SCYTOPHYLLUM BERGERI FROM THE LADINIAN OF THE DOLOMITES IN THE HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE GEOLOGISCHE BUNDESANSTALT WIEN Evelyn Kustatscher 1 , Barbara Meller 2 & Johanna H.A. van Konijnenburg-van Cittert 3 With 1 figure and 2 plates Abstract A specimen of Scytophyllum bergeri Bornemann from Corvara, that was mentioned in literature from the 19 th century under various names but has never been described and figured, has been rediscovered in the collections of the Geological Survey in Vienna. It is the first specimen of this species from Ladinian sediments in the Dolomites and is described, figured and discussed here. Zusammenfassung Aus dem Ladinium von Corvara wird erstmals Scytophyllum bergeri Bornemann beschrieben, abgebildet und diskutiert. Dieses Exemplar, welches in wenigen Publikationen aus dem 19. Jahrhundert unter ver- schiedenen Namen erwähnt, jedoch niemals beschrieben und abgebildet worden ist, konnte in der Sammlung der Geologischen Bundesanstalt in Wien wieder entdeckt werden. 47 1 Naturmuseum Südtirol, Bindergasse 1, 39100 Bozen, Südtirol, Italy. e-mail Evelyn.Kustatscher@naturmuseum.it 2 Geologische Bundesanstalt, Neulinggasse 38, 1030 Wien, Austria, e-mail: melbar@geologie.ac.at 3 Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands, e-mail: j.h.a.vankonijnenburg@bio.uu.nl and National Natural History Museum ‘Naturalis’, PO Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. e-mail: Konijnenburg@naturalis.nl 1. Introduction Fossil plants of Ladinian age (referred to the “Buchensteiner Schichten” or “Wengener Schich- ten”) from the Dolomites have been known for over 120 years. The first fragment of a fern frond from the Ladinian of the Dolomites has been figured by Wissmann & Münster (1841); for a detailed histori- cal overview see also Wachtler & Van Konijnenburg – Van Cittert (2000a, b), Kustatscher (2004) and Kustatscher & van Konijnenburg – van Cittert (2005). In the latter also a detailed list of both inedited and revised material stored at several local and international museums and universities has been published. During an extended research on the plant fossils mentioned by Mojsisovics (1879, pp. 57-8, 244) the first author detected at the Austrian Geological Survey, a frond fragment originating from the “Halobienschichten” of “Corfara”. This specimen and its various entries in the historical literature are the topic of this article. 2. History of the specimen in the literature The specimen stored at the Austrian Geological Survey has two different labels: The original label indicates that the “Zamites n. sp.” has been collect- ed by “v. Richthofen” in 1856 from the “Halobien- schichten” of “Corfara”. The second one, dated probably from the period around 1938-1945, says Thinnfeldia richthofeni Stur from the Upper Triassic (Carnian) of the same locality. As far as the authors could detect, the specimen is mentioned only a few times in literature, but has never been figured or described in detail. For the first time it has been cited by Richthofen in 1860 (p. 69). The article suggests that it has been collected, together with a shoot of “Araucarites”, in