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Extant species of Liquidambar L. exhibit a disjunct distribution between western and eastern Asia and eastern North America to Central America, with the highest species diversity being in China. In this study, two new species of Liquidambar are described from the Eocene of Hainan Island, South China: L. hainanensis on basis of the leaf fossils, and L. ovoidea based on compressions of infructescences. The co‐occurrences of L. hainanensis leaves, associated infructescences of L. ovoidea and dispersed pantoporate pollen grains have the combination of morphological features peculiar to the genera Liquidambar and former Semiliquidambar and Altingia. This is considered further palaeobotanical justification for the placement of these three genera into a single genus, Liquidambar, proposed earlier based on molecular markers. Our data provide evidence for the occurrence of an ancestral polymorphic group of Liquidambar species (L. maomingensis with associated capitate infructescences, L. bella, L. hainanensis and L. ovoidea) during the Eocene in South China, and corroborate the view that South China could have been a centre of Liquidambar speciation during the Eocene. The morphological similarity of L. hainanensis leaves to those of the extant species L. orientalis from Western Asia and the North American L. styraciflua may support the importance of both the North Atlantic Land Bridge and the Bering Land Bridge for the dispersal of Liquidambar. Analysis of fossil species of Liquidambar from eastern Asia also contributes to further understanding of patterns in the taxonomic diversity and evolutionary history of this genus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present here the earliest known Asian fossil records of the Menispermaceae based on fossil fruits from Paleocene and Eocene localities in South China. A new genus and species, Paleoorbicarpum parvum sp. nov., and two new species of Stephania Loureiro, S. ornamenta sp. nov. and S. geniculata sp. nov., are recognized from Paleocene deposits of the Sanshui Basin, Guangdong, and a new occurrence of the widespread Eocene species Stephania auriformis (Hollick) Han & Manchester is recognized from the Maoming Basin, Guangdong. The Paleocene Stephania specimens described here represent the earliest fossil endocarp record of the Menispermaceae in eastern Asia. This discovery shows that the moonseed family had arrived in tropical and humid South China by at least the middle Paleocene, which provides important evidence for the origin and phytogeographic history of the family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a securely dated middle Eocene plant fossil assemblage is described and illustrated. Plant fossils come from the volcanogenic-terrigenous deposits of the Tolstyi Cape Formation and Buyan Formation exposed in the east and south-east parts of the Bering Island, Komandor Islands (Commander Islands) group. They belong to conifers (four species) and dicotyledonous angiosperms (five species). A new combination Cupressinocladus napanensis (Budantsev) comb. nov. is described, a neotype and emended diagnosis for the species Dicotylophyllum beringianum (Chelebaeva et Akhmetjev) Budantsev and a later synonym for the species Macclintockia sabinae (Chelebaeva et Akhmetjev) Chelebaeva are proposed. The flora is shown to be most similar to the diverse late Eocene flora of Western Kamchatka. This, in turn, allows us to suppose that the Kamchatkan flora might be middle to late Eocene in age. It reflects coniferous-broadleaved deciduous vegetation existed in a wet temperate climate of northeast Asia. • A securely dated middle Eocene flora of Komandor Island is described and illustrated. • Stratigraphic and geographic occurrences of plant fossils are considered. • Plant taxa are newly photodocumented and partly revised. • The flora is most similar to the middle-late Eocene flora of Western Kamchatka. • The flora reflects deciduous vegetation existed in a wet temperate climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The middle Eocene (Lutetian–Bartonian, 48.6–37.2 Ma) near-equatorial megafossil flora from swamp and lacustrine facies of the lower Changchang Formation, Hainan Island, South China (19.631463°N, 110.445049°E) is highly diverse (> 200 taxa) dominated by an unusual mixture of angiosperms typical of modern temperate, subtropical and tropical evergreen and deciduous forms. It is also rich in palms. Multivariate analysis of the architecture of minimally transported woody dicot leaves reveals a mean annual air temperature (MAT) of ~ 22 ± 4.7 °C with a marked thermal seasonality range of ~ 21 °C. The year-round humid climate lacked any monsoonal signature. The overall climate signal is compatible with the growth characteristics exhibited by fossil wood, but is warmer than the climate signal derived from pollen and spores using Co-existence Analysis. Corrections for possible palaeoelevation of the basin bring the megafossil-derived MAT estimate in line with 54–52 Ma sea surface and soil temperatures obtained from the Gulf Coast, USA, (palaeolatitude ~ 30°N) using multiple geochemical proxies and supports the claim that the low latitude Eocene climate was not uniformly warm. This challenges previous conclusions based on ∂ 18 O analysis of unaltered calcareous microfossils. Our air temperature data also adds to the challenge of understanding heat transport away from the equator to higher latitudes during ‘hothouse’ climate regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]