Mummified fossil woods of Fagaceae from the upper Oligocene of Guangxi, South China. (February 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Huang, Luliang; Jin, Jianhua; Quan, Cheng; Oskolski, Alexei A.
• Is Part Of: Journal of Asian earth sciences. Volume 152(2018)
• Page Start: 39
• Page End: 51
• Publication Date: 2018-02
• Subjects: Castanopsis -- Lithocarpoxylon -- Late Oligocene -- South China -- Phytogeography -- Paleoclimate; Earth sciences -- Asia -- Periodicals; Sciences de la terre -- Asie -- Périodiques; Earth sciences; Asia; Periodicals; 555.05
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2017.11.029
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-9120

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: Uniquely preserved Oligocene mummified Fagaceae woods are found in South China. Three new species of Castanopsis and Lithocarpoxylon are described from fossil woods. New species of Castanopsis provide the earliest wood record of this genus in SE Asia. Guangxi had a seasonal (probably monsoonal) tropical climate in the late Oligocene. Abstract: Three new fossil species, two attributed to the genus Castanopsis ( C. nanningensis and C. guangxiensis ) and one to the organ genus Lithocarpoxylon ( L. nanningensis ) are described on the basis of well-preserved mummified wood from the upper Oligocene of Yongning Formation in the Nanning Basin, Guangxi Province, South China. The two species of Castanopsis represent the most ancient reliable wood record of this genus in China and also southeastern Asia, which is the center of diversity of extant species. The fossil leaf records of Castanopsis indicated this genus has migrated to South China in the late Eocene. This fossil wood evidence confirms the presence and persistence of Castanopsis in this region in the late Oligocene. In the Yongning Formation, the presence of numerous Fagaceae woods with faint or absent growth ring boundaries (in C. nanningensis ) occasionally associated with prominent ring-porous patterns, suggests that Guangxi (South China) had a seasonal (probably monsoonal) tropical climate during the late Oligocene.