Search

Simple Summary: In this study, we describe the well-preserved fossil seed cones of Nothotsuga found in the Mula Basin, Litang County, Sichuan Province, southwestern China. By detailed morphological comparisons, a new fossil species, Nothotsuga mulaensis Z. Li et J. L. Dong sp. nov. is named. This discovery suggests that Nothotsuga had a more northern distribution during the Miocene. In addition, it suggests that the Mula region had a humid and warm climate during this period. The ancient landform presents an intermountain lake basin, which would have been surrounded by higher mountains. After the Miocene, due to the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, Nothotsuga was either unable to adapt to the extinction of the local environmental or was able to migrate to several scattered places in southern China. 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neogene plant fossils from low latitudes of China are critical for understanding the history of plant diversity and paleoenvironment in that region. Here we describe well-preserved Cercis fruit fossils from the Fotan Group (~14.7 Ma) in Fujian, southeastern China. Based on detailed morphological and anatomical comparisons with extant and fossil species, we refer to these fossils as Cercis zhangpuensis sp. nov. Cercis zhangpuensis, most similar to C. chinensis A.V. Bunge among extant species of the genus. The currently described species is the southmost fossil record of the genus in Asia. In addition, we have studied cuticle structures of Cercis pod fossils for the first time. The occurrence of Cercis fossils indicates that the genus existed in Fujian, China since the middle Miocene. Available fossil records indicate that Cercis firstly appeared in North America during the Eocene, then spread in Europe and Asia since the Oligocene, with its distribution attaining the peak in the Miocene. We conclude that East Asia may represent one of the major centres of diversification of Cercis in the Miocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fossil eudicot, Gansufructus saligna gen. et sp. nov. is reported from the Early Cretaceous (late Aptian–early Albian) of the Gansu Province, Northwest China, based on numerous well-preserved axes with attached leaves and infructescences. The leaves are alternate, short petiolate and linear-lanceolate with low rank pinnate to reticulate venation. The infructescences are loose panicles bearing fruits in different stages of maturity, each containing four partly free carpels borne in a whorled arrangement. Each carpel has three to five seeds borne along its ventral margin. The nature of the leaves and axes indicates a terrestrial, herbaceous habit. In general organization, Gansufructus is closely similar to the fruit-bearing axes of Sinocarpus decussatus from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota, as well as other more or less contemporaneous angiosperms from the Far East, which together provide evidence of diverse eudicot angiosperms of low stature colonizing areas close to environments of deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]