Abstract
The bryophyte fossils are rare, mainly in Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in spite of being present since the Silurian Period. In the Division Bryophyta, the fossils that belong to the Class Bryopsida are recognized since the Carboniferous, but they are extremely scarce. They are plentiful only in Permian sediments, in the Petchora, Kuznetsk and Russian Platform basins, also in Antarctica, Karoo basin (the last in South Africa) and India. Identified at the genus Dwykea, gametophyte specimens bearing pleurocarpous sporophyte were recovered from the lowermost levels of Itararé Subgroup, near Campinas city, S. Paulo State. These fossils correspond to the first register of bryophyte female gametophyte for the Carboniferous Period. The microflora in association with these fossils allow correlations of these levels to the Palynozone Ahrensisporites cristatus of Westphalian age. Related to proglacial sediments, they may correspond to a tundra vegetation covering the Northeastern border of Paraná Basin, during the Westphalian.