A new species of Garcinia (Clusiaceae) from the middle Miocene of Fujian, China, and a phytogeographic analysis

Abstract

Some well‐preserved Garcinia leaves were collected from middle Miocene deposits from the Fotan Group of Zhangpu County, Fujian, southeast China. Based on leaf architecture and cuticular characteristics, a new species was established, Garcinia zhangpuensis sp. nov. The leaves were elliptic with an acute apex, they had a major secondary vein meeting an adjacent vein to form an intramarginal vein, and the stomata were elliptical or rounded. Fossil leaf characteristics were compared with those of extant and other fossil species hitherto described in this genus. Here, we present the first fossil Garcinia leaf from China and provide a detailed description of its cuticular characteristics. Based on the analysis of leaf architecture and cuticular characteristics, the present fossil leaves most closely resemble those of extant Garcinia tonkinensis leaves, a species that prefers a subtropical climate. Hence, we can infer that G. zhangpuensis lived during the Miocene under a warm, tropical to subtropical climate. Based on the global paleogeographic distribution of Garcinia, we infer that this genus might have originated from Gondwanan during or prior to the Paleogene.

Comparative Study on Leaf Anatomy in Selected Garcinia Species in Peninsular Malaysia

“…According to Pathirana and Herat (2004), all Garcinia taxa for the adaxial and abaxial epidermis consist of rectangular to square cells. A similar pattern was also observed in G. zhangpuensis (Wang et al, 2018), Garcinia indica, and Garcinia livingstonei (Priya et al, 2018). The types of epidermal cells which are straight, undulated, and sinuate observed in the Tomovita species can be utilised in the phylogenetic study of morphological features and determination of linkages across species (Gahagen, 2015).…”

“…mangostana complements the finding from the previous research done by Priya and Hari (2019). Hypostomatous and paracytic stomata were also reported on Garcinia brasilliensis (Cardoso et al, 2013), Garcinia cambogia (Sreelakshmi et al, 2014), Garcinia zhangpuensis (Wang et al, 2018), Garcinia dulcis (Begum, 2020), and Garcinia atroviridis (Susilowati et al, 2022). These findings supported the evidence that these two features of stomata are common in the Garcinia genus (Pathirana & Herat, 2004) and the Clusiaceae family (Metcalfe & Chalk, 1950).…”

The diversity ofSmilax(Smilacaceae) leaves from the Middle Miocene in southeastern China

“…Various angiosperm families have been identified based on leaves and fruits found from a layer of light brown diatomite and an underlying layer of blue‐grey mudstone, such as Fagaceae (Wang, 2018), Leguminosae (Lin, Wong, Shi, Shen, & Li, 2015), Dipterocarpaceae (Shi, Jacques, & Li, 2014), Euphorbiaceae (Jacques, Shi, Su, & Zhou, 2015; Wang et al, 2017a), Clusiaceae (Wang et al, 2019, 2018), Lauraceae (Wang et al, 2017b), Rhamnaceae (Dong, Sun, Mao, Jin, & Wang, 2018), and Altingiaceae (Dong et al, 2018). The majority of the extant members of these families grow today in pantropical regions, some of them extend to the temperate zone (Dong, Sun, Mao, Yan, et al, 2018).…”

Parrotiaflower blooming in Miocene rainforest

“…The arthropod inclusions in Zhangpu amber and plant fossil assemblage both suggest that the middle Miocene Zhangpu biota is a megathermal (currently "tropical") rainforest biome (Wang et al, 2021a). The plant fossil assemblage consists of Osmundaceae, Schizaeaceae, Smilacaceae, Altingiaceae, Anacardiaceae, Annonaceae, Burseraceae, Clusiaceae, Coriariaceae, Dipterocarpaceae, Elaeocarpaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fagaceae, Lauraceae, Leguminosae, Magnoliaceae, Melastomataceae, Moraceae, Myrtaceae, Myristicaceae, Rhamnaceae, Salicaceae, Urticaceae, Trapaceae, and Nelumbonaceae (Shi & Li, 2010;Shi et al, 2014b;Jacques et al, 2015;Lin et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2017Wang et al, , 2019aWang et al, , 2019bWang et al, , 2019cWang et al, , 2019dWang et al, , 2020Wang et al, , 2021aWang et al, , 2021bWang et al, , 2022aWang et al, , 2022bDong et al, 2018aDong et al, , 2018bDong et al, , 2021Dong et al, , 2022Beurel et al, 2023;Wu et al, 2023;Yin et al, 2023). Paleoclimate estimates based on leaf physiognomy also reveal that the middle Miocene flora in Zhangpu represents a tropical seasonal rainforest with a mean annual temperature of ~22.5°C, a warm month mean temperature of ~27.1°C, a cold month mean temperature of ~17.2°C, nearly 12-month growing seasons, and growing season precipitation of ~1929 mm (Wang et al, 2021a).…”