A New Fossil Species of Nothotsuga from the Mula Basin, Litang County, Sichuan Province and Its Paleoclimate and Paleoecology Significance

Abstract

In this paper, we describe a new fossil species, Nothotsuga mulaensis Z. Li & J.L. Dong sp. nov. The discovery of the fossil species was based on well-preserved fossil seed cones that were found in the Mula Basin in Xiamula village, Litang County, Sichuan Province, southwestern China. The shapes of these fossils were characterized by ovate seed cones, rhombic or suborbicular scales with auriculate bases, and the bracts were ligulate-spathulate in shape. This finding suggests that Nothotsuga once had a wide distribution range in China and that it also inhabited the eastern Tibetan Plateau (TP). Nothotsuga mulaensis was distributed in an intermountain lake basin, at altitudes from 2000 to 2300 m, in a warm and humid environment. This finding also suggests that the eastern TP may have provided good habitat for Nothotsuga during the Miocene. In addition, we propose that the uplift, accompanied by the severe cooling and aridification that occurred after the Miocene, caused the disappearance of this species of Nothotsuga in the eastern TP.

Exceptionally well‐preserved seed cones of a new fossil species of hemlock, Tsuga weichangensis sp. nov. (Pinaceae), from the Lower Miocene of Hebei Province, North China

“…In the fossil record, Nothotsuga is relatively uncommon and has been reported from the Eocene to Pliocene of Asia and Europe (Miki, 1954; Karavayev, 1958; Chen et al, 1992; Kunzmann & Mai, 2005; Sadowski et al, 2017; Ding et al, 2021a; Xu et al, 2022; Dong et al, 2023). Ding et al (2021a) questioned the assignment of fossil seed cones that were discovered in the Oligocene of Yakutia, Russia, and in the Pliocene of Japan (Miki, 1954; Karavayev, 1958) to N .…”