First reliable Miocene fossil winged fruits record of Engelhardia in Asia through anatomical investigation.

Fossil genera with similar features to the winged fruits of the living Engelhardia Lesch. ex Blume (e.g., Palaeocarya G. Saporta) have been widely reported in Cenozoic fossil floras of the Northern Hemisphere. However, fossil winged fruits of Engelhardia with detailed anatomical structures have only been found in the upper Eocene of North America. This study reports the first Engelhardia fossil winged fruits with detailed anatomical structures in East Asia from the Miocene Erzitang Formation of Guangxi, South China. The anatomical and morphological features of the new fossils, including the unique structure of secondary septa, clearly distinguish them from other fossil genera and show unambiguously their attribution to the genus Engelhardia. This discovery suggests that Engelhardia had reached its modern distribution during the Miocene and the climate of the Guiping Basin in Guangxi during the Miocene was similar to that of present-day tropical and subtropical regions in Asia.

Glacial expansion of cold-tolerant species in low latitudes: megafossil evidence and species distribution modelling.

Fossil wood of Chinese white pine (Pinus armandii Franch.) from the Late Pleistocene deposits of Maoming Basin of South China provides the first megafossil evidence for glacial expansion of the range of a cold-tolerant species in low latitudes.

Mummified fruits of Canarium from the upper Pleistocene of South China.

Canarium L. contains approximately 78 species distributed in low to middle altitudes of the Paleotropics and northern Australia. Canarium fruit fossils are known mainly from Paleogene to Neogene of North America, Africa, and Eurasia. Here, we described a new species Canarium maomingense sp. nov. from the upper Pleistocene of the Maoming Basin, Guangdong, South China. Similarly to extant Canarium species, each of three locules of C. maomingense possesses two ovules, but only one or two of six ovules develop into a seed, indicating that the ovules undeveloped into seeds in Canarium species have existed at least since the late Pleistocene. The natural habitats of extant relatives and associated fossil plants suggest subtropical evergreen broad-leaved and mixed forests in the late Pleistocene of this region. Some special damage traces are observed on pyrene surfaces, indicating possible plant interactions with animals and fungi.

Fossil Fruits of Ceratophyllum from the Upper Eocene and Miocene of South China.

Ceratophyllum L. is a cosmopolitan genus of perennial aquatic herbs that occur in quiet freshwaters. Fossils of this genus have been widely reported from the Northern Hemisphere, most of them occurring in the temperate zone. Here, we describe two species of fossil fruits discovered from subtropical areas of China. The fossil fruit discovered from the upper Eocene Huangniuling Formation of the Maoming Basin is designated as C. cf. muricatum Chamisso, and fruits discovered from the Miocene Erzitang Formation of the Guiping Basin are assigned to the extant species C. demersum L. The discovery of these two fossil species indicates that Ceratophyllum had spread to South China by the late Eocene and their distribution expanded in subtropical China during the Miocene.