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A New Species of Tsuga (Pinaceae) based on Lignified Wood from the Late Miocene of Central Yunnan, China, and Its Paleoenvironmental Implications
Author(s) -
Haobo WANG,
BONDARENKO Olesia V.,
JACQUES Frédéric M. B.,
Yuehua WANG,
Zhekun ZHOU
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
acta geologica sinica ‐ english edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1755-6724
pISSN - 1000-9515
DOI - 10.1111/1755-6724.12555
Subject(s) - tsuga , pinaceae , fossil wood , geology , paleontology , late miocene , tracheid , extant taxon , botany , structural basin , biology , pinus <genus> , xylem , evolutionary biology
A new species, Tsuga nanfengensis sp. nov. (Pinaceae), is described on the basis of lignified fossil wood from the late Miocene of the Xianfeng Basin, central Yunnan, southwestern China. Detailed observation of the fossil wood specimens show the following characteristics: distinct growth rings, absence of resin canals, uniseriate bordered pits in the radial wall of tracheids, ray tracheids and piceoid and cupressoid cross‐field pits. These features indicate similarities to the wood of extant Tsuga canadensis, T. chinensis , and T. dumosa . According to the fossil record, Tsuga was present in Xundian County during the Miocene. Today Tsuga is drought intolerant, preferring wet conditions with no extant species growing naturally in Xundian County. The presence of Tsuga in the Miocene of Xundian County indicates a humid climate consistent with previous palaeoclimatic reconstructions showing a wetter and probably shorter dry season in the Miocene, relative to the present day. Therefore, the change in the local climate such as increasing aridity through the Miocene might explain the local extinction of Tsuga from central Yunnan.