The extinct genus Chaneya Wang et Manchester in the Tertiary of Europe—a revision of Porana-like fruit remains from Öhningen and Bohemia

Abstract

Fossil fruit with persistent corolla, which have been recorded in Europe, particularly from the Öhningen locality (middle Miocene of Germany), were originally assigned to the genus Porana Burm. (Convolvulaceae) by Heer. The present revision of Heer's material including the type and illustrated specimens has resulted in a new combination, Chaneya oeningensis (Unger) Teodoridis et Z. Kvaček comb. nov., based on similarities in morphological traits of the wing-like perianth and reproductive organs with the recently established fossil genus Chaneya Wang et Manchester ( Chaneya tenuis (Lesquereux) Wang et Manchester and Chaneya kokangensis (Endo) Wang et Manchester) from the Tertiary of North America and East Asia. While all these remains contain resinous bodies in their tissue, the cuticle structure newly obtained from the European (Öhningen) and China (Yilan) material is totally different from that, which was attributed to the Asian C. kokangensis and employed for systematic considerations. Although the precise systematic position of Chaneya remains uncertain, similarities in the re-interpreted floral morphology, the apocarpic superior gynoecium, the floral disc and oil cells in the petals suggest affinities to the Rutales, namely the Simaroubaceae or Rutaceae. Among the Simaroubaceae, Picrasma Bl. in particular is similar in the gynoecium organisation and wing-like petals persisting on fruits, but it differs from Chaneya in the lack of oil cells.