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Revision of Tertiary Fagus cupules from Russia, Transcaucasia and western Siberia
Author(s) -
Denk Th.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
feddes repertorium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.24
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1522-239X
pISSN - 0014-8962
DOI - 10.1002/1522-239x(200208)113:3/4<193::aid-fedr193>3.0.co;2-b
Subject(s) - extant taxon , paleontology , botany , geology , geography , biology , evolutionary biology
Tertiary cupule and nut remains of Fagus from Transcaucasia, Russia and western Siberia which have been ascribed to various modern species, are revised and compared to European Tertiary cupules and nuts. Specimens, previously ascribed to Fagus cf. orientalis and F. cf. grandifolia from the Pliocene and Late Miocene of western Transcaucasia, belong to the same morphotype. They cannot be distinguished from Late Miocene and Pliocene cupules from Europe referred to as Fagus deucalionis Unger emend. Denk & Meller . Middle Miocene to Late Oligocene cupules from western Siberia ascribed to F. cf. grandifolia , F. cf. japonica and F. cf. longipetiolata belong to a second morphotype, and also clearly fall within the morphological variability encountered in cupule and nut remains of F. deucalionis of the same age from Europe. The fossils ascribed to F. cf. lucida remain enigmatic although they differ from extant F. lucida by having winged nuts and spine‐like appendages. In general, diagnostic characteristics of cupules and nuts in Fagus are easily lost during transport and fossilization, which makes fossile cupules and nuts difficult to assign to distinct taxa and to compare to single modern species.