TY - JOUR T1 - High diversity of Lauraceae from the Oligocene of Ningming, South China JF - Palaeoworld Y1 - 2014 DO - 10.1016/j.palwor.2014.08.001 A1 - Shi, Gong-Le A1 - Xie, Zhi-Ming A1 - Li, Hao-Min SP - 336 EP - 356 KW - Biogeography KW - Cladistic analysis KW - cuticle KW - High diversity KW - Lauraceae KW - Oligocene AB -

Lauraceae is among the largest and floristically most important woody plant families in subtropical and tropical zones. However, the Cenozoic fossil records of Lauraceae are mostly from mid-latitude regions. Here we described eight lauraceous species from the Oligocene of Ningming, Guangxi, South China on the basis of leaf compressions with cuticular structure, providing new evidence for high diversity of Lauraceae in the low latitude region of the northern hemisphere during the late Paleogene. The extant genera to which the Ningming Oligocene fossils are possibly closely related include Cinnamomum, Neolitsea, Litsea, Alseodaphne, Laurus, and Beilschmiedia. All of these extant genera except Laurus still exist in Guangxi today, whereas Laurus is currently distributed in the Mediterranean and adjacent regions. A cladistic analysis based on leaf architectural and leaf cuticular characters for Paleogene Lauraceae species in the world indicated a possible relationship between European and East Asian Paleogene species.

VL - 23 ER -