Miocene floras in the lower Rhenish Basin and their ecological interpretation

Abstract

Some 29 samples containing fruits and seeds were collected in three open cast mines in the lower Rhenish Basin. They all originate from Upper Miocene deposits. The samples were analysed for their fruit and seed contents and these are described shortly. Four new species: Erica palaeoarborea, Vaccinium miocenicurn, Rhynchospora tertiaria and Potamogeton extremitatus are formally described. The floras are interpreted ecologically using the ecological comparison table method and a reconstruction of the landscape is presented.

A single Mid-Pleistocene long-distance dispersal by a bird can explain the extreme bipolar disjunction in crowberries ( Empetrum )

“…The divergence between Empetrum and its sister genera Ceratiola and Corema was estimated to be 23.6 Ma (95% HPD, 10.1-38.8; median, 22.4 Ma) and the age of the Empetrum crown group was estimated to be 5.5 Ma (95% HPD, 1.1-11.1 Ma; median, 4.9 Ma; Table 1). The stem group age is consistent with the finding of a Middle Miocene Empetrum endocarp in a sand bed in Denmark (28) and seeds from Late Miocene sand beds in Germany (29). Applying a strict molecular clock (7) inferred the stem group age of Empetrum to be younger (14.8-22.8 and 11.2-16.5 Ma).…”

Late Tertiary Plant Macrofossilsf from Localities in Arctic/Subarctic North America: A Review of the Data

“…They are tentatively referred to the genus Paliurus (Rhamnaceae) and are similar to but smaller than Paliurus fruits illustrated by van der Burgh (1987) and Dorofeev (1963). Closer in size to the fossils discussed here are specimens of Carpolithus szaferi V. Nikitin, which Nikitin (in Baranova et al, 1976) compares to Paliurus.…”

“…Identification of vascular plant fossils follows from comparison with modern reference specimens in the seed collection of the Geological Survey of Canada and the collections of J. van der Burgh and reference to illustrations and descriptions in several publications, including Baranova et al (1976), Bennike (1990), Buzek et al (1985), Dorofeev (1%3,1972Dorofeev (1%3, ,1988, Friis (1985), Katz et al (1965), Lancucka-Srodoniowa (1966), Reid and Reid (1915) and van der Burgh (1987).…”

Paleobiology of the genus <i>Hypericum</i> (Hypericaceae): a survey of the fossil record and its palaeogeographic implications

“…Hypericum tertiaerum Nikitin fossil seeds also appear during the same period in East and Central Europe and Siberia (Dorofeev, 1963;Łańcucka-Środoniowa & al., 1981;Van der Burgh, 1987;Baranowska-Zarzycka, 1988;Dyjor & al., 1992;Mai, 2000Mai, , 2001. This species is also frequently found in Pliocene sites from the same regions (Nikitin, 1957;Dorofeev, 1979;Jahn & al., 1984;Yakubovs kaya, 1984;Mai & Walther, 1988;Velichkevich, 1990;Mai, 2001;Gümbel & Mai, 2004;Arbuzova, 2005).…”