title: First record of Podocarpoid fossil wood in South China.
abstract: A new species of fossil conifer wood, Podocarpoxylon donghuaiense sp. nov., is described from the late Eocene of Nadu Formation in Baise Basin of the Guangxi Province, South China. This fossil wood is characterized by distinct growth rings, circular to oval tracheids in cross section, 1-2-seriate opposite pits on radial tracheid walls, uniseriate (rarely biseriate) rays, smooth end walls of ray parenchyma cells, and the absence of resin ducts, suggesting its affinity to Podocarpaceae. The new species is distinctive from other Cenozoic woods ascribed to this family by the combination of distinctive growth rings, the absence of axial parenchyma, the occurrence of bordered pits on tangential tracheid walls, and the occurrence of 3-4 cuppressoid or taxodioid pits on cross-fields. This represents the first record of podocarpoid fossil wood in South China and provides fossil evidence for the early dispersal and diversification of Podocarpaceae in eastern Asia as well as for mild temperate seasonal climate in this region during the late Eocene.
authors: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, and School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
authors: Long
authors: L
authors: Li
authors: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, and School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
authors: Jian-Hua
authors: JH
authors: Jin
authors: Research Center of Paleontology &Stratigraphy, Jilin University, Changchun 130026, China.
authors: Cheng
authors: C
authors: Quan
authors: Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa.|Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Prof. Popov str. 2, St. Petersburg 197376, Russia.
authors: Alexei A
authors: AA
authors: Oskolski
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D005580:Fossils; D005843:Geography; D013045:Species Specificity; D064028:Tracheophyta / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development*; D014934:Wood / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development*