Zosterophyllopsids have a rich fossil record and represent one of the dominant components in Early Devonian plant assemblages around the world. However, knowledge about the paleogeographic distribution of different groups of zosterophyllopsids remains incomplete. In this article, we describe new plant macrofossils assignable to the genus Gosslingia, which was previously only known from the Lower Devonian of Europe. Our fossils show considerable similarities with the type species of Gosslingia, Gosslingia breconensis, and thus represent the first report of Gosslingia in the South China Block and the most convincing occurrence of this genus outside of Europe. The discovery of Gosslingia and other cosmopolitan genera in South China indicates that the dispersal of early vascular plants across different paleocontinents was more common than previously appreciated.

The zosterophyllopsids had a widespread distribution and constituted a dominant component in many plant assemblages during the Early Devonian. Although a large number of zosterophyllopsids have been documented, knowledge about the paleogeographic distribution of different genera/species remains to be expanded by further fossil evidence. In this article, new material assigned to the genus Gosslingia Heard, 1927 and designated as Gosslingia cf. G. breconensis Heard, 1927 is described from a new locality of the Lower Devonian of Guizhou Province, China. The Guizhou material shows main axes that are pseudomonopodially branched, pseudomonopodial lateral branching systems, subaxillary tubercle branches, circinate apices, elliptical xylem strand, exarch maturation of xylem, and G-type tracheids, and exhibits considerable similarities with the type and only species of Gosslingia, Gosslingia breconensis. Our finding represents the first report of Gosslingia in the South China Block and the most convincing occurrence of this genus outside of Wales, UK. Gosslingia adds to the diversity of genera shared among the Early Devonian floras of South China, western Europe, and North America, along with Distichophytum Mägdefrau, Estinnophyton Fairon-Demaret, Zosterophyllum Penhallow, and others, and indicates that the dispersal of early vascular plants among different paleocontinents was more common than previously appreciated.