title: Camellia nanningensis sp. nov.: the earliest fossil wood record of the genus Camellia (Theaceae) from East Asia.
abstract: A new species Camellia nanningensis was described on the basis of well-preserved mummified wood from the upper Oligocene Yongning Formation of Nanning Basin in Guangxi Province, South China. This represents the most ancient fossil wood assigned to Camellia, and the earliest fossil record of the family Theaceae in China. This fossil material shows that Camellia occurred in China as early as the late Oligocene, suggesting more ancient radiation of this genus than estimated by molecular dating.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, and School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China.|Research Center of Paleontology and Stratigraphy, and MOE Key-Lab for Evolution of Past Life and Environment in Northeast Asia, Jilin University, Changchun, 130026, China.
authors.forename: Lu-Liang
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, and School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China. lssjjh@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jian-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Paleontology and Stratigraphy, and MOE Key-Lab for Evolution of Past Life and Environment in Northeast Asia, Jilin University, Changchun, 130026, China. quan@jlu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, 2006, South Africa.|Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prof. Popov str. 2, St. Petersburg, 197376, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexei A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Oskolski
mesh_terms: D028244:Camellia / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005202:Asia, Eastern; D005580:Fossils; D005843:Geography; D013045:Species Specificity; D014934:Wood / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
keywords: Camellia; Late Oligocene; Mummified wood; Nanning Basin; South China; Theaceae