A new species of Craigia from the Eocene Changchang Formation of Hainan Island, China

Abstract: The modern distribution centre of the genus Craigia is situated in South China and adjacent northernmost Vietnam, but it was widely distributed in Europe, North America and East Asia during the Tertiary. Up to now, the genus Craigia includes only two extant and two fossil species. Based on a detailed study of the fossil material from the coal-bearing deposits of the Changchang Formation (Eocene) from the Changchang Basin of Hainan Island, China, Craigia hainanensis sp. nov. is established. This is the first fossil record of Craigia in its modern distribution centre which provides a new data on the origin and phytogeographic history of this genus. The distribution of extant and fossil Craigia in North America, Europe, Central and East Asia suggests that the Far East of Russia is a possible centre of origin of Craigia where the fossil record of this genus goes back to the Paleocene. During the Eocence global warming event, Craigia had dispersed rapidly to North America, Spitzbergen, East and Central Asia, and reached its modern distribution centre in South China no later than in the early Late Eocene. During the Oligocene and Neogene this genus continued to spread over Asia and further dispersed to Europe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]