Late Miocene Pseudolarix amabilis bract-scale complex from Zhejiang, East China

PLoS One. 2017 Jul 7;12(7):e0180979. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180979. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Previously, the identification of fossil Pseudolarix at the species level has been based on the morphology of the bract-scale complex of the seed cone. The morphological consistence of fossils through most of the Cenozoic with extant P. amabilis has led them to be considered conspecific, suggesting that P. amabilis is an extraordinary example of morphological stasis. However, the lack of cuticular evidence, especially for the leaf-homologous bract, reduces the accuracy of fossil identification based on morphology, thus weakening the evidence for morphological stasis in P. amabilis. For the first time, we provide cuticular evidence of the bract-scale of fossil P. amabilis based on the bract-scale complex from the late Miocene Shengxian Formation, Zhejiang, East China, which improves the identification accuracy and reinforces the concept of morphological stasis in this species. Second, we preliminarily reveal the niche stability of P. amabilis, which corresponds to its morphological stasis. Finally, we infer that the late Miocene forest containing P. amabilis in Zhejiang was an evergreen sclerophyllous broad-leaved or mixed mesophytic forest, which combined with the evergreen broad-leaved forest suggested by previous megafossil studies, indicates the occurrence of vertical vegetation zonation.

Publication types

  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Biological Evolution
  • China
  • Forests
  • Fossils / history
  • Fossils / ultrastructure*
  • History, Ancient
  • Phylogeny
  • Phylogeography
  • Pinaceae / anatomy & histology*
  • Pinaceae / classification
  • Pinaceae / physiology
  • Plant Leaves / anatomy & histology*
  • Plant Leaves / physiology
  • Seeds / anatomy & histology*
  • Seeds / physiology

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 41602188, YB [http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/]) and the National Basic Research Program of China (grant no. 2015CB953803, XL [http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/]). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.