Two fossil conifer species from the Neogene of Alonissos Island (Iliodroma, Greece)

Abstract

Alonissos (Iliodroma) Island is really famous to palaeobotanists because of the type locality of Glypto strobus europaeus (Brongniart) Unger only. Since the first report of the latter holotype no palaeobotanical work has taken place in Alonissos. This is the first research of the fossiliferous locality, along with new palaeobotanical, palynological and gastropod findings, revealed after 200 years. Among the collected material, a xylitic specimen was studied and identified as Pinuxylon alonissianum Mantzouka & Sakala, sp. nov. The presence of this species points to botanical affinities with sections of Diploxylon Pines (Pinus leiophylla var. chihuahuana (Engelm.) Shaw, P. arizonica Engelm., P. arizonica var. cooperi (C.E.Blanco) Farjon, P. engel mannii Carrière and P. jeffreyi Balf.) especially from Central America (Sierra Madre Occidental and Oriental of Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon and Sierra Nevada). This is the first research of this kind revealing as the Nearest Relative bioprovince of the studied Greek fossil pine wood Central America and not Himalayas or Asia. Moreover, a palynological study and an analysis of fossil molluscs were carried out for the first time, giving more data regarding the palaeovegetation and palaeoclimate of the area. Finally, the holotype of Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongniart) Unger, housed in the collections of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris (MNHN), is found, photographed and presented for the first time.

The Pliocene flora of Frankfurt am Main, Germany: taxonomy, palaeoenvironments and biogeographic affinities

“…Remarks: The twigs were identified as Callitris brongniartii Saporta obviously by Kinkelin. Two specimens correspond to sterile foliage recovered at the type locality of Alonissos (Iliodroma) Island (Mantzouka et al 2019). The third may belong likely to Sequoia abietina (see below).…”

Prediction of Suitable Distribution of a Critically Endangered Plant Glyptostrobus pensilis

“…In most of the Mesozoic Era, gymnosperms dominated the Earth's land. In this geological period, the number and distribution ranges of gymnosperms reached their peaks [5,6]. Climate change was one of the main reasons for the mass extinction of species in the late Cretaceous and it also led to the extinction of many gymnosperms [7].…”

Cellular preservation and maceral development in lignite and wood from the Brassington Formation (Miocene), Derbyshire, UK

“…Miocene wood remains are known from many localities in the northern hemisphere, including Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, and Turkey (Hoffmann and Blanchette, 1997;Figueiral et al, 1999;Erdei et al, 2009;Hámor-Vidó et al, 2010;Cheng et al, 2014Cheng et al, , 2018; Bardet and Pournou, 2015;Acarca Bayam et al, 2018;Mustoe, 2018;Mantzouka et al, 2019). Both angiosperm and gymnosperm woods have been reported, although in many cases gymnospermous woods dominate the assemblages, especially in and above coal seams (Hoffmann and Blanchette, 1997;Figueiral et al, 1999;Erdei et al, 2009;Hámor-Vidó et al, 2010.…”

“…These characters may or may not be visible in either thin-sections or polished sections, depending upon the compaction state and degradation state of the wood. While some authors advocate charring of samples prior to attempts at identification as a means of making wood characters more visible (Figueiral et al, 1999), most researchers impregnate mummified woods with epoxy (Abad, 1988;Hámor-Vidó et al, 2010) or polyethylene glycol (Hoffmann and Blanchette, 1997); or simply wet and slice it prior to mounting in glycerin jelly (Blanchette et al, 1991;Wang et al, 2017;Mantzouka et al, 2019). These latter options have the advantage of conserving the preservational state of the wood such that characteristic damage patterns caused by bacteria, fungi, and chemical alteration can be observed (Blanchette et al, 1991a,b;Hoffmann and Blanchette, 1997).…”