Fossil Fruits Research Articles

First Fossil Fruit of Mallotus Lour. (Euphorbiaceae) from the Early Eocene Lignite Mine of Rajasthan, India

The present study deals with the reporting and description of the first fossil record of Mallotus Lour. fruit from all over the world. The edible parts of plants are too soft to be preserved and therefore, are rare in fossil records. Fossil fruit of Mallotus mollissimus (Geiseler) Airy Shaw (Euphorbiaceae), a rainforest tree, is described from the early Eocene Palana Formation (Gurha lignite mine) of northwest India. The occurrence of M. mollissimus, along with earlier described fossils from the area demonstrates the existence of dense tropical forests in the area during the depositional time in contrast to the desertic conditions in the area today. This discovery from the early Eocene succession substantiates the Gondwanan origin for the genus.

Extinct genus Lagokarpos reveals a biogeographic connection between Tibet and other regions in the Northern Hemisphere during the Paleogene

AbstractThe biodiversity history on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) has remained unclear for a long time. Recent paleobotanical investigations provide opportunities for revealing the phytogeographic history on the QTP in deep time and for testing phylogeographic hypotheses. Lagokarpos is an extinct genus with unknown modern affinities. It is easily distinguished by its fruits, which have two long wings and an elliptical fruit body. Previously, Lagokarpos fossils have only been found from North America and Germany, ranging from the latest Paleogene to early middle Eocene. Recently, we found fossil fruits of this genus from the Niubao Formation, near Bangoin County in the central QTP. A new species, namely Lagokarpos tibetensis H. Tang, T. Su & Z. K. Zhou sp. nov., is described. This is the first fossil record of the genus in Asia. The occurrence of L. tibetensis indicates a close floristic linkage between the QTP and other floras in the Northern Hemisphere during the Paleogene. According to the floristic assemblages, we suggest the central QTP experienced a tropical or subtropical humid climate during that period.

Diversity of Menispermaceae from the Paleocene and Eocene of South China

AbstractWe present here the earliest known Asian fossil records of the Menispermaceae based on fossil fruits from Paleocene and Eocene localities in South China. A new genus and species, Paleoorbicarpum parvum sp. nov., and two new species of Stephania Loureiro, S. ornamenta sp. nov. and S. geniculata sp. nov., are recognized from Paleocene deposits of the Sanshui Basin, Guangdong, and a new occurrence of the widespread Eocene species Stephania auriformis (Hollick) Han & Manchester is recognized from the Maoming Basin, Guangdong. The Paleocene Stephania specimens described here represent the earliest fossil endocarp record of the Menispermaceae in eastern Asia. This discovery shows that the moonseed family had arrived in tropical and humid South China by at least the middle Paleocene, which provides important evidence for the origin and phytogeographic history of the family.

Fossil palm fruits from India indicate a Cretaceous origin of Arecaceae tribe Borasseae

The fossil record of palms (Arecaceae) is essential for understanding the deep evolutionary and geographical history of the family. We studied palm fruit fossils from the c. 67–64-Myr-old Deccan Intertrappean Beds of India to infer the systematic relationships of the fossils and their relevance to palm evolution. Using X-ray micro-computed tomography, physical sectioning techniques and a total-evidence phylogenetic analysis, we show that these fossils represent a crown group member of subtribe Hyphaeninae (tribe Borasseae, subfamily Coryphoideae) allied with the extant genera Satranala and Bismarckia, now endemic to Madagascar. These fossils, synonymized here as Hyphaeneocarpon indicum, provide evidence for the existence of crown group Hyphaeninae during the late Maastrichtian–early Danian. This pre-dates prior age estimates for the Hyphaeninae crown node by nearly 40 Myr and implies an earlier divergence of Borasseae. The presence of Hyphaeneocarpon in India shows that Borasseae have persisted in the Indian Ocean region for > 64 Myr. This study illustrates the utility of palm fruit characters for placing fossils in a phylogenetic context and has important implications for understanding the evolution and diversification of Borasseae and the palaeobiogeography of palms.

Early Miocene flora of central Kazakhstan (Turgai Plateau) and its paleoenvironmental implications

The investigation of the fossil floras from the Turgai plateau (central Kazakhstan) contributes to a better understanding of the origin of the temperate Turgai type flora which spread to Kazakhstan and adjacent areas during the Oligocene–Miocene transition. In this paper, we present the results of a carpological and palynological study of the Kumyrtas flora collected from a flora-bearing horizon of the regional coal-bearing Zhilanchik suite, dated to the Aquitanian period. Pollen analysis identified 33 taxa, with are dominated by angiosperms (about 73%) and reflect zonal vegetation. The high percentages of Betula (27%) and Pterocarya (7.5%) that were found in this flora allows comparisons with other Aquitanian floras of Kazakhstan. Based on descriptions of fossil fruits and seeds, we determined that 19 taxa were dominant; these taxa had meosphytic herbaceous components, suggesting mostly edaphic local conditions. The incongruence between the carpological and the pollen records suggests a significant taphonomical effect. Quantitative reconstruction of the palaeoclimate based on pollen records supports---and slightly extends---previous findings based on fossil leaf data, but contradicts findings deduced from the carpological record. Plant Functional Type (PFT) classification was used to characterize the vegetation patterns. Pollen records show that about 45% of diversity relates to the arboreal broadleaved deciduous components and ca. 35% to conifers. Fossil fruit and seed data indicate riverine vegetation with a high diversity of aquatic components and shrub stratum.

Fruits of Scirpus (Cyperaceae) from the early Miocene of Weichang, Hebei Province, North China and their palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographical implications

This paper describes the fossil fruits of Scirpus weichangensis X.Q. Liang, sp. nov. from the early Miocene of Guangyongfa Village, Weichang County, Hebei Province, North China. The fossil fruits are obovate in shape and their lateral sections are plumply trigonous. The cell walls of the surface are straight. The persistent stout bristles have downward-directed barbellae in distal 1/2. The occurrence of the fossil Scirpus indicates that Guangfayong was a wetland in the early Miocene. Based on the fossil data, the genus likely originated in Western Siberia in the Oligocene, spread during the Miocene, and was finally distributed worldwide in the Holocene.

An abnormally twinned fossil fruit of Iodes Blume (Icacinaceae) from Rivecourt (Thanetian, Oise, France)

The Rivecourt site (Thanetian from Oise, France) includes about 70 endocarp specimens distributed among five Iodes Blume species. Of the 36 specimens of Iodes rivecourtensis Del Rio, Thomas & De Franceschi one has an abnormal morphology. It is divided in two locules rather than one, and two apical apertures per face in contrast to normal specimen possessing only one per face. Icacinaceae Miers is a family with one carpel and two pendulous ovules where only one becomes mature. Here we have cases of two fused carpels, revealed by a wall between the twin lateral parts and by the four apertures, probably corresponding to the vascularisation of the four ovules. Finaly, we hypothesize that the two functional locules found here may correspond to a partial reversion of ancestral characters of the fruit.

Middle to Late Paleocene Leguminosae fruits and leaves from Colombia

Leguminosae are one of the most diverse flowering-plant groups today, but the evolutionary history of the family remains obscure because of the scarce early fossil record, particularly from lowland tropics. Here, we report ~500 compression or impression specimens with distinctive legume features collected from the Cerrejón and Bogotá Formations, Middle to Late Paleocene of Colombia. The specimens were segregated into eight fruit and six leaf morphotypes. Two bipinnate leaf morphotypes are confidently placed in the Caesalpinioideae and are the earliest record of this subfamily. Two of the fruit morphotypes are placed in the Detarioideae and Dialioideae. All other fruit and leaf morphotypes show similarities with more than one subfamily or their affinities remain uncertain. The abundant fossil fruits and leaves described here show that Leguminosae was the most important component of the earliest rainforests in northern South America c. 60–58 million years ago.

New records of Podocarpium A. Braun ex Stizenberger (Fabaceae) from the Oligocene to Miocene of China: Reappraisal of the phylogeographical history of the genus

Podocarpium (Fabaceae), characterized by single seeded pods and paripinnate compound leaves, is well known as an extinct legume genus having extensive fossil occurrences from the Miocene of Central Europe and eastern Asia. However, the Palaeogene unambiguous megafossils are quite scarce, especially the Oligocene record from eastern Asia, which heavily impedes our understanding of early dispersal patterns and infrageneric relationships of this enigmatic genus. Here, we described dozens of legume specimens from the Oligocene Ningming Formation of Guangxi in South China, the Early Miocene Guide Group of Qinghai in Northwest China and the Middle–Late Miocene Shengxian Formation of Zhejiang in Southeast China as Podocarpium podocarpum (A. Braun) Herendeen based on extremely similar fruit characters. Meanwhile, we reexamined variation in fruit morphology among the previously reported fruits of Eurasia and present legumes as a basis for interpreting the infrageneric relationship and subfamily affinity of Podocarpium. The high similarities presented by these fossil fruits support the previous recognition of the specimens from the Oligocene–Miocene of Central Europe and the Miocene– Pliocene of eastern Asia as P. podocarpum, but such a low species diversity of Podocarpium appears to indicate a bradytelic morphological evolution for this whole ancient lineage through geologic time. Moreover, judging from seed orientation as well as seed and fruit comparative sizes, the oblong seed is parallel to the long axis of the fruit and its placentation is near the apex of the seed chamber, which favor the previous assignment of Podocarpium to the subfamily Caesalpinioideae.Additionally, we speculated that this extinct genus may prefer a warm and humid (or mildly arid) environment by plotting the megafossil localities on the overall Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene palaeoclimate maps based on continental drift. The Oligocene occurrence from the Ningming Formation in Guangxi, South China sheds new light on the historical biogeographical pattern between Central Europe and eastern Asia, i.e. after the probable origin in low latitude tropic coastal regions of southernmost South China (i.e. Hainan) by the Middle Eocene, Podocarpium may subsequently disperse into Guangxi and then Europe via a probable low-latitude land connection located among the Tethys and Paratethys seas to the southwest of Eurasia in the Early Oligocene, independent of the gradual closure of the Turgai Strait in the middle-high latitudes during the Oligocene.

Miocene Ulmus fossil fruits from Southwest China and their evolutionary and biogeographic implications

The genus Ulmus L. (Ulmaceae) has a rich Cenozoic fossil record from the Northern Hemisphere, which provides essential information for evolutionary and biogeographic histories. However, compared to its abundant leaf fossils, fruit fossils of Ulmus, which allow accurate identification, are still scarce. In this study, we report two new species of the section Ulmus, Ulmus prelanceaefolia Q.Y. Zhang et Y.W. Xing sp. nov. and U. maguanensis Q.Y. Zhang et Y.W. Xing sp. nov. from the Miocene Huazhige Formation in Wenshan and Maguan basins, southeastern Yunnan, southwestern China. These two species are established based on several well-preserved fossil samaras. Ulmus prelanceaefolia represents the only unequivocal record of the ser. Lanceaefolia in the world and U. maguanensis represents the earliest unequivocal record of the ser. Nitentes in East Asia. The evolutionary and biogeographic histories of Ulmus are discussed by summarizing and revising the fossil fruit records. We deduce that the narrow-winged fruit may be primitive and the two narrow-winged sections, sect. Chaetoptelea and Trichoptelea are the early evolved lineages in Ulmus and have diversified since the Eocene. The Oligocene was an important epoch for the rapid diversification of broad-winged lineages of Ulmus, which was likely due to dispersal advantage in the more open forests originating as the global climate began to cool. We also found frequent exchanges/dispersals and extinction events between or within North America, Asia, and Europe since the Eocene. The North Atlantic and Bering Land Bridges served as important dispersal corridors for Ulmus during the Cenozoic.

Rightcania and Kvacekispermum: Early Cretaceous Seeds From Eastern North America and Portugal Provide Further Evidence of the Early Chloranthoid Diversification

Abundant flowers, fruits, seeds and stamens that are closely related to extant Chloranthaceae have been reported from the Early Cretaceous floras of Portugal. Among these are small berries with endotestal seeds assigned to the extinct genera Canrightia and Canrightiopsis. Here we describe two new genera, each including a single species, based on fossil fruits and seeds from the Early Cretaceous of eastern North America and Portugal. Both genera have pendent, orthotropous, bitegmic and endotestal ovules/seeds, in which the endotesta consists of a layer of cubic to palisade-shaped crystal cells with endoreticulate fibrous infillings, a combination of features that also characterize Canrightia and Canrightiopsis and that among extant angiosperms are known only for members of the Chloranthaceae. Rightcania kvacekii gen. et sp. nov. from the early to middle Albian Puddledock mesofossil flora of Virginia, USA, is the first representative in the Early Cretaceous floras of North America of a chloranthaceous fossil related to Canrightia and Canrightiopsis. It has three- to five-seeded fruits very similar to fruits and seeds of Canrightia, also with a pronounced tegmen that probably functioned as a nutritive tissue for the developing embryo. Fruits and seeds of Rightcania are larger than those of Canrightia, and also differ in details of the seed coat. Kvacekispermum rugosum gen. et sp. nov. is rare in the late Aptian to early Albian Portuguese mesofossil flora from Vale de Água. It differs from Canrightiopsis in the coarsely rugulate outer surface of the endotesta and its larger size, but is closely similar in the general structure of seed coat and nutritive tissue. Together, Rightcania and Kvacekispermum provide further evidence of the early diversity achieved by chloranthoid angiosperms before the end of the Early Cretaceous.

Trochodendraceous Fruits and Foliage in the Miocene of Western North America

Two fossil fruit types and at least one fossil leaf type representing Trochodendraceae are recognized from the middle Miocene Cascadia flora of western Oregon, USA. Trochodendron rosayi sp. nov., known also from the middle Miocene of eastern Oregon and northern Idaho, is based on long-pedicelled, apically dehiscent capsular fruits with 7-9 persistent outcurved styles, very similar to the extant monotypic east Asian species T. aralioides. Concavistylon kvacekii gen. et sp. nov. is named for a racemose infructescence bearing shortly pedicellate, apically dehiscent capsules with 4 to 5 persistent incurved styles arising from the basal 1/3 of the fruit. Leaves associated at the Moose Mountain locality are recognized as Trochodendron postnastae sp. nov. They have basally acrodromous venation with a prominent midvein bracketed by a pair of strongly ascending basal secondaries and are thought to correspond to the T. rosayi fruits. These new occurrences demonstrate that greater diversity was present among fossil Trochodendraceae than previously recognized during the Miocene in western North America.

Fruit fossils of Rosoideae (Rosaceae) from the late Pliocene of northwestern Yunnan, Southwest China

AbstractThe subfamily Rosoideae Focke (Rosaceae) has a good fossil record in the Northern Hemisphere, but these fossil records are confined mainly to a few genera, whereas the majority, in particular those with herbaceous members, are still under‐represented. In this study, we describe new fruit fossils of Rosoideae, including Fragaria achenes and Rubus endocarps, from the late Pliocene of northwestern Yunnan, Southwest China. These fossils add new accounts to the fossil archive of Rosoideae and provide the first fossil record of Fragaria in East Asia. The new fossil findings provide a historical backdrop for the modern diversity and distribution of the subfamily in northwestern Yunnan, a topographically complex area accommodating a high diversity for many plant groups. Our Rubus fossils, in combination with other nearby coeval occurrences of the genus, suggest that Rubus was already establishing its modern diversity in northwestern Yunnan during the late Pliocene. This finding enriches our knowledge of the post‐Neogene diversification of flowering plants in northwestern Yunnan, which is thought to be largely driven by dramatic mountain uplifts and environmental complications associated with the southeastern extension of the Tibetan Plateau.

SEED AND FRUIT FOSSILS IN GREEK LIGNITE DEPOSITS

The aim of this study is to present a collection of seed and fruit fossils coming from several Greek lignite deposits. What is presented is part of an effort to create a complete collection that could be used in the future from scientists as a reference when studying Greek lignites and specially their paleoenvironment conditions. A general wetland model as a possible environment of peat formation is presented together with the representative flora for each wetland type. Seed and fruit fossils can not only provide adequate information for the reconstruction of paleoenvironment where lignite was formed, but can also contribute to the determination of age and stratigraphie classification of the lignite deposits. In three lignite deposits, namely Drama, Ag. Anargiri, and Lava, the information coming from found seed and fruit fossils was processed and the paleoenvironment conditions together with the age of the deposits were determined.

Hemitrapa Miki (Lythraceae) from the earliest Oligocene of southeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and its phytogeographic implications

Hemitrapa Miki (Lythraceae) is an extinct aquatic genus that shows the close morphological affinity to water chestnut (Trapa), it has rich fossil records ranging from the late Paleocene to early Pliocene of the Northern Hemisphere. Recently, we found numerous Hemitrapa fruit fossils and pollen grains of Hemitrapa from the earliest Oligocene of southeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, comprising its southmost fossil record worldwide and the earliest fossil record in Asia. We studied the morphology of fruit fossils and pollen grains of Hemitrapa, and compared them with previous fossil records. Two pairs of arms and parallel ridges along the main body of the fruit, as well as pollen grains with three distinctive crests and of a smaller size than living Trapa natans, clearly assign these fossils to Hemitrapa. We described here a new species, namely Hemitrapa alpina T. Su et Z.K. Zhou sp. nov. The finding of H. alpina could not only contribute to plant diversity in the geological past of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, but also indicate that Hemitrapa grew on the plateau by the earliest Oligocene. Meanwhile, H. alpina greatly expands the geographic distribution of Hemitrapa during the Paleogene of the Northern Hemisphere, the disappearance of Hemitrapa might be due to dramatic paleoenvironmental changes on the plateau since the Paleogene.

Revision of Comarostaphylis globula (Ericaceae) from Cenozoic of Central Europe

Fossil fruits of the Central European middle Miocene originally described as Comarostaphylis globula have been re-interpreted based on new specimens from several localities in the Konin basin, Central Poland, and Chłapowo, Northern Poland. A new ericaceous genus Kirchheimeria is proposed, but is of uncertain subfamilial affinity. We suggest that the new genus is i) an early representative of the Comarostaphylis–Arctostaphylos lineage, ii) a separate, extinct European lineage of Arbutoideae, or iii) a representative of an extinct Ericaceae subfamily. We review the fossil record of Arbutoideae, with emphasis on the European remains. We suggest that the Paleogene and most of the Neogene remains have been unconvincingly identified and attributed to Arbutoideae, and need confirmation through re-examination of the original materials.

Recent Periodicals

Anglo-Saxon England, 45 (2017) Includes: Donald Scragg, ‘A Ninth-Century Old English Homily from Northumbria'; Leonard Neidorf, ‘The Composite Authorship of The Dream of the Rood’; Gerald P. Dyson, ‘Liturgy or Private Devotion? Reappraising Warsaw Biblioteka Narodowa, I. 3311’. Archives of Natural History, 44, 2 (October 2017) Includes: Christopher D. Preston, ‘Using John Nidd's Annotated Books in the Wren Library to Reassess his Contribution to John Ray's Catalogus (1660)’; Holger Funk, ‘John Caius's Contributions to Conrad Gessner's Historia animalium and “Historia plantarum”: A Survey and Commentaries’; R. B. Williams, ‘Corroboration of the Inferred Publication Date of J. S. Bowerbank's A History of the Fossil Fruits and Seeds of the London Clay’. Arthuriana, 26, 1 (Spring 2016) Includes: Stephen M. Yeager, ‘Diplomatic Antiquarianism and the Manuscripts of La3amon's Brut’. Book Collector, 66, 3 (Autumn 2017) Includes: James Fergusson, ‘Evelyn Waugh, Artist’; Charles Sebag-Montefiore, ‘The British as Art Collectors’; A. S. G. Edwards, ‘The Bradmore Manuscript: Medicine and Memory in Early Modern England’; Mirjam M. Foot, ‘A London Binding for Presentation of Bishop John King, c. 1616’; David Batterham, ‘“How Much for the Whole Shop?”; A Billet at Hay Castle in 1965’; Sheila Markham, ‘Carl Williams’.

Tracking the Initial Diversification of Asterids: Anatomically Preserved Cornalean Fruits from the Early Coniacian (Late Cretaceous) of Western North America

Premise of research. The initial radiation of core eudicots (>70% angiosperm diversity) occurred during the Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma). While there is strong fossil evidence for this diversification occurring throughout the Cenomanian (100.5–93.9 Ma) and Turonian (93.9–89.8 Ma), there are no unambiguous reports of the largest core eudicot clade, the asterids, from pre-Coniacian deposits (89.8–86.3 Ma). This study provides new insights into the early evolution of asterids by characterizing anatomically preserved fruits from the early Coniacian (∼89 Ma) of North America that represent three new taxa assignable to the earliest-diverging asterid order, Cornales.Methodology. Three fossil fruit types were identified within calcareous concretions from the Upper Cretaceous Eden Main locality on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Specimens were prepared using the cellulose acetate peel technique.Pivotal results. These fruits have a thick-walled woody endocarp with germination valves, one apically attached seed...

A new commelinid monocot seed fossil from the early Eocene previously identified as Solanaceae.

Fossils provide minimum age estimates for extant lineages. Here we critically evaluate Cantisolanum daturoides Reid & Chandler and two other early putative seed fossils of Solanaceae, an economically important plant family in the Asteridae. Three earliest seed fossil taxa of Solanaceae from the London Clay Formation (Cantisolanum daturoides) and the Poole and Branksome Sand Formations (Solanum arnense Chandler and Solanispermum reniforme Chandler) were studied using x-ray microcomputed tomography (MCT) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The MCT scans of Cantisolanum daturoides revealed a high level of pyrite preservation at the cellular level. Cantisolanum daturoides can be clearly excluded from Solanaceae and has more affinities to the commelinid monocots based on a straight longitudinal axis, a prominent single layer of relatively thin-walled cells in the testa, and a clearly differentiated micropyle surrounded by radially elongated and inwardly curved testal cells. While the MCT scans show no internal preservation in Solanum arnense and Solanispermum reniforme, SEM images show the presence of several characteristics that allow the placement of these taxa at the stem node of Solanaceae. Cantisolanum daturoides is likely a member of commelinid monocots and not Solanaceae as previously suggested. The earliest fossil record of Solanaceae is revised to consist of fruit fossil with inflated calyces from the early Eocene of Patagonia (52 Ma) and fossilized seeds from the early to mid-Eocene of Europe (48-46 Ma). The new identity for Cantisolanum daturoides does not alter a late Cretaceous minimum age for commelinids.

Fossil fruit of Hibiscus esculentus L. of family Malvaceae from Deccan Intertrappean cherts of India

Malvaceous fossil fruit belonging to the genus Hibiscus esculentus L. is reported from the Deccan Intertrappean exposures of Mohgaonkalan, Chhindwara District, Madhya Pradesh, India. The fruit is characterized by pentalocular, pentangular, pentaribbed dicot five seeded capsule with loculicidal dehiscence.