Biodiversity of ecosystems in an arid setting: The late Albian plant communities and associated biota from eastern Iberia

outcrops are poorly known and only few amber pieces have been described so far. Addition- ally, new material collected from these two outcrops is currently being prepared and new find- ings are expected. Hymenoptera, including one new species [110], Hemiptera and Diptera have been reported from Arroyo de la Pascueta while Diptera and Blattodea have been recorded in La Hoya. Collectivelly, the amber from the three outcrops has delivered 40 arthro- pod taxa, presenting higher or similar level of diversity than other mid-Cretaceous amber- bearing sites of Iberia such as Peñacerrada and El Soplao (northern Spain). Discussion Palynomorph-based biostratigraphy In the AP section, the presence of Tricolporoidites (Fig 6), Artiopollis praecox (Fig 9AB), Drya- dopollis vestalis (Fig 9S), Gnetaceaepollenites oreadis (Fig 7O), Liliacidites tectatus (Fig 9M), Rousea miculipollis, Senectotetradites spp. (Fig 9AC) and Tricolpites nemejci (Fig 9R) indicates a late Albian age (Fig 15) since none of these taxa have been identified in older strata [78, 93, 104, 111–113]. This age is significantly younger than the one inferred by [29] based on a long- distance correlation with palaeontological data from the neighbouring Morella Sub-basin. The age of the SJ section can be independently dated as late Albian or younger based on the record of Odontochitina rhakodes (Fig 7F). This age is further supported by the presence of Fig 14. Detailed palynological chart for Arroyo de la Pascueta section (AP). Blue colour: marine palynomorphs; yellow colour: spores of ferns and allied;

green colour: Gymnosperm pollen; red colour: Angiosperm pollen. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282178.g014 PLOS ONE Late Albian desert biota from Iberia PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282178 March 2, 2023 30 / 51