Late Eocene leaves of Nageia (section Dammaroideae) from Maoming Basin, South China and their implications on phytogeography

Abstract

A new species of Nageia, Nageia maomingensis sp. nov., is described from the Late Eocene of Maoming Basin, Guangdong Province, South China. According to its cuticular characteristics, the present fossil species is assigned to N. sect. Dammaroideae, showing the most resemblance to the extant species N. motleyi (Parl.) de Laub. At present, this section is mainly distributed in the Pacific islands region from South Asia to New Guinea. The discovery of N. maomingensis demonstrates that plants of this section inhabited South China at least by the Eocene. The distribution and living habitat of extant N. sect. Dammaroideae imply that South China was warmer during the Late Eocene than today, and may represent one of the centers for early diversification of Nageia and its section Dammaroideae during the Eocene. In addition, we postulate that plants of sect. Dammaroideae migrated southward in response to climate cooling after the Eocene.

Estimates of late middle Eocene <i>p</i>CO<sub>2</sub> based on stomatal density of modern and fossil <i>Nageia</i> leaves

“…Among the modern Nageia species mentioned above, N. motleyi was considered as the NLE species of N. maomingensis (Liu et al, 2015). However, because of the species-specific inverse relationship between atmospheric CO 2 partial pressure and SD (Woodward and Bazzaz, 1988), it is necessary to explore whether the SD and SI of N. motleyi show negative correlations with the CO 2 concentration before applying the stomatal method.…”

“…Jin et al (2010) reported an upper Eocene Nageia leaf named N. hainanensis Jin, Qiu, Zhu et Kodrul from the Changchang Basin of Hainan Island, South China. Recently, Liu et al (2015) found another leaf species N. maomingensis Jin et Liu from upper middle Eocene of Maoming Basin, South China. Although some of the Nageia fossil materials described in the above studies (Krassilov, 1965;Jin et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2015) have well-preserved cuticles, these studies are mainly concentrated on morphology, systematics, and phytogeography.…”

“…Further information on the sections is provided by Liu et al (2015). Importantly, the formations span a depositional age of approximately 42.0-38.5 Ma which was considered as late Eocene by Wang et al (1994), 244 X. Y.…”

First record of Podocarpoid fossil wood in South China

“…nov. is the first record of podocarpoid fossil wood in China. Coeval macrofossils assigned to Podocarpaceae have already been reported from the South China: well-preserved leaves of Nageia have recently been described from the Eocene Changchang Formation of Hainan Island, and the Eocene Youganwo and Huangniuling formations of Guangdong Province2526. Podocarpoxylon donghuaiense is distinct, however, from the wood of extant Nageia species by the absence of axial parenchyma323334.…”

Earliest fossil fruit record of the genus Paliurus (Rhamnaceae) in Eastern Asia

“…Abundant fossils have been found in the Youganwo Formation, including reptiles (Anosteira maomingensis Chow and Liu, Tomistoma petrolica Yeh, Adocus inexpectatus Danilov et al) (Chow and Liu, 1955;Yeh, 1958;Li, 1975;Danilov et al, 2013), fish (Cyprinus maomingensis Liu) (Liu, 1957), mammals (Lunania cf. L. youngi Chow) (Wang et al, 2007) and a diverse assemblage of plant megafossils including Bischofia maomingensis Feng et Jin (Feng et al, 2012), Myrtineoxylon maomingensis (Oskolski et al, 2013), Nageia maomingensis Jin et Liu (Liu et al, 2015) and fossil spore-pollen (Aleksandrova et al, 2015).…”