Parrotia C.A.Meyer(Hamamelidaceae)is a relictual genus with only two extant species disjunctly distributed in the subtropical forests of East China and temperate forests of North Iran.Fossil records suggest that Parrotia was widespread in Europe and Asia during the Miocene,but its fossils are predominantly based on pollen and leaves.In this paper we describe the first fossil flower of Parrotia based on an exceptionally well-preserved amber inclusion from the middle Miocene of Zhangpu,Southeast China.The fossil flower was investigated with light microscope and microcomputed tomography techniques.Parrotia zhiyanii sp.nov.is a small apetalous staminate flower subtended by a pair of prominent bracts.The androecium consists of 12 stamens,and each stamen consists of a short,slender filament and a prominent,elongated anther.The anthers with short simple trichomes on the outer surface and a prominent apical connective extension are opened by longitudinal slits.Unlike its living relatives,the new Parrotia from Zhangpu grew in a Miocene seasonal tropical rainforest.
amberflowerFujianHamamelidaceaeParrotiarainforest
Xie-Ting Wu、Jun-Wu Shu、Su-Xin Yin、Eva-Maria Sadowski、Gong-Le Shi
展开 >
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy,Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment,Chinese Academy of Science,Nanjing 210008,China
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China
Museum für Naturkunde,Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science,Berlin 10115,Germany
Institute of Botany,Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences,Nanjing 210014,China
展开 >
中国科学院战略规划重点项目Youth Innovation Promotion Association,Chinese Academy of SciencesGerman Research Foundation
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
