First Evidence for Wollemi Pine-type Pollen (Dilwynites: Araucariaceae) in South America

Abstract

We report the first fossil pollen from South America of the lineage that includes the recently discovered, extremely rare Australian Wollemi Pine, Wollemia nobilis (Araucariaceae). The grains are from the late Paleocene to early middle Eocene Ligorio Márquez Formation of Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina, and are assigned to Dilwynites, the fossil pollen type that closely resembles the pollen of modern Wollemia and some species of its Australasian sister genus, Agathis. Dilwynites was formerly known only from Australia, New Zealand, and East Antarctica. The Patagonian Dilwynites occurs with several taxa of Podocarpaceae and a diverse range of cryptogams and angiosperms, but not Nothofagus. The fossils greatly extend the known geographic range of Dilwynites and provide important new evidence for the Antarctic region as an early Paleogene portal for biotic interchange between Australasia and South America.

Paleo‐Antarctic rainforest into the modern Old World tropics: The rich past and threatened future of the “southern wet forest survivors”

“…It is present as fossils in Australia from at least the late Paleocene and in New Zealand since the early Miocene. Pollen assigned to Dilwynites can represent both Agathis and Wollemia (Macphail et al, 2013; Macphail and Carpenter, 2014). It appears in our data during the Eocene of Antarctica and Patagonia and the Paleocene to Pleistocene of Australia, where both Agathis and Wollemia remain extant (eastern survival).…”

Agathistrees of Patagonia's Cretaceous‐Paleogene death landscapes and their evolutionary significance

“…). This pollen morphogenus can be traced to the Late Cretaceous (Turonian; see Macphail et al., ; Macphail and Carpenter, ) but is especially common, and occasionally dominant, at Paleocene to Middle Miocene localities from Australia (Chambers et al., ; Macphail et al., ). Isolated Dilwynites pollen was recently reported from South America for the first time, from the Eocene Ligorio Márquez Formation in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina (Macphail et al., ).…”

“…This pollen morphogenus can be traced to the Late Cretaceous (Turonian; see Macphail et al., ; Macphail and Carpenter, ) but is especially common, and occasionally dominant, at Paleocene to Middle Miocene localities from Australia (Chambers et al., ; Macphail et al., ). Isolated Dilwynites pollen was recently reported from South America for the first time, from the Eocene Ligorio Márquez Formation in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina (Macphail et al., ). After the discovery in New South Wales of Wollemia nobilis (Jones et al., ), whose pollen type is extremely similar to fossil examples of Dilwynites , the fossil history of Wollemia was accordingly thought to trace back to the Turonian (see Chambers et al., ).…”

Contrasting patterns of diversification in a bird family (Aves: Gruiformes: Rallidae) are revealed by analysis of geospatial distribution of species and phylogenetic diversity

“…In particular, relict lineages such as the Tuatara Sphenodon punctatus in New Zealand (Jones and Cree 2012) and the Wollemi Pine Wollemia nobilis in Australia (Macphail et al 2013) provide tantalizing hints of the past composition and distribution of biota, but their minimal lineage diversity and distant phylogenetic relationships to other living organisms show extensive extinction of close relatives (Habel et al 2010, Grandcolas et al 2014, Grandcolas and Trewick 2016. In particular, relict lineages such as the Tuatara Sphenodon punctatus in New Zealand (Jones and Cree 2012) and the Wollemi Pine Wollemia nobilis in Australia (Macphail et al 2013) provide tantalizing hints of the past composition and distribution of biota, but their minimal lineage diversity and distant phylogenetic relationships to other living organisms show extensive extinction of close relatives (Habel et al 2010, Grandcolas et al 2014, Grandcolas and Trewick 2016.…”

“…Detailed analysis of particular lineages has provided insights, although biogeographers are sometimes distracted by instances with low lineage diversity. In particular, relict lineages such as the Tuatara Sphenodon punctatus in New Zealand (Jones and Cree 2012) and the Wollemi Pine Wollemia nobilis in Australia (Macphail et al 2013) provide tantalizing hints of the past composition and distribution of biota, but their minimal lineage diversity and distant phylogenetic relationships to other living organisms show extensive extinction of close relatives (Habel et al 2010, Grandcolas et al 2014, Grandcolas and Trewick 2016. Inferences drawn from speciose lineages with global representation should be more informative and revealing of the relative contribution of historical, spatial and ecological features that shape regional-scale species richness.…”