First fossil record of Staphylea L. (Staphyleaceae) from North America, and its biogeographic implications (original) (raw)
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Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2018
A new flower preserved in amber in sediments of Simojovel de Allende, México, is identified as an extinct member of Staphyleaceae, a family of angiosperms consisting of only three genera (Staphylea, Turpinia and Euscaphis), which has a large and abundant fossil record and is today distributed over the Northern Hemisphere. Staphylea ochoterenae sp. nov. is the first record of a flower for this group, which is small, pedicelled, pentamer, bisexual, with sepals and petals with similar size, dorsifixed anthers and superior ovary. Furthermore, the presence of stamens with pubescent filaments allows close comparison with extant flowers of Staphylea bulmada and S. forresti, species currently growing in Asia. However, their different number of style (one vs. three) and the apparent lack of a floral disc distinguish them from S. ochoterenae. The presence of Staphyleaceae in southern Mexico ca. 23 to 15 My ago is evidence of the long history of integration of vegetation in low-latitude North America, in which some lineages, such as Staphylea, could move southwards from high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, as part of the Boreotropical Flora. In Mexico it grew in association with tropical elements, as suggested by the fossil record of the area.
2005
Types HT =holotype, ST =syntype(s), LT =lectotype, PT =paratypes, NT =neotype, etc., with collection of deposition, using 2-4 letter codens usually following Arnett et al. 1993 (RefNo 192; also web version at http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/codens/). A full list of those used in this field and in our specimen database (not yet online) is provided starting on page 5 below. Data in this field are incomplete and generally NOT confirmed by actual examination of types. TypeLoc type locality as originally published (data incomplete) FM number of specimens in FMNH (incomplete for Leiodidae and Staphylinidae: Pselaphinae) Distrib distribution by country, region or island group/island; Canada and USA with 2-letter state/province abbreviations in (); "intro." if known adventive/introduced species in some areas; with geological age in square brackets as [___ fossil] if extinct; search for *fossil] to find records For regional fields, see list of island assignments on page 17; for within-region distributions, see page 18 ChileArg = x if present in Chile or southern Argentina (Ñuble,
A new species, Styracoxylon thyllosum sp. nov., is described from the Upper Pleistocene Arroyo Feliciano Formation of the Gualeguay Basin in eastern Argentina. It is the first unequivocal record of the Styracoxylon van der Burgh (1978) in South America and was previously known only from the Pliocene of the Rhine area, Netherlands. This fossil specimen was recovered in the Consorcio Paso Sociedad Locality (Federal, Entre Ríos, Argentina). The new fossil species is characterized by growth ring boundaries distinct, with diffuse-porous wood. Vessels are mostly in radial multiples of 2–6 elements, occasionally solitary and rarely in clusters. Tylosis is abundant. Perforation plates are usually scalariform (5–20 bars) and rarely simple. Intervessel pits are small, bordered, and alternate to opposite. Rays are frequently 2–4 (6) seriate and rarely uniseriate, heterocellular, and of two distinct ray sizes. Fibers are non-septate, with distinctly bordered pits, and rounded to hexagonal in outline. The axial parenchyma is apotracheal diffuse and diffuse-in-aggregates, and in strands of 8–12 cells. Vascular tracheids possibly present.Wood anatomical features suggest a relationship with Styracaceae, and the fossil specimen shows affinity with the extant genus Styrax Linnaeus.
MIDDLE AND LATE PENNSYLVANIAN FOSSIL FLORAS FROM SOCORRO COUNTY, NEW MEXICO, U.S.A
—Late Middle through Late Pennsylvanian fossil plant assemblages, and the strata from which they were collected, are described from Socorro County, New Mexico, U.S.A. The flora is diverse and consists of a mixture of taxa generally considered typical of both wetland and seasonally dry habitats. The overall climate likely varied in synchrony with glacial-interglacial cycles, the effects of which were felt across the tropics. However, in the absence of coals and other such indicators of humid climates, it is likely that the climate norms fell between subhumid and arid in this part of the western Pangean continent, which was at the time nearly equatorial. The flora includes the following major taxa: Arborescent lycopsids, Sigillaria, Bergeria, and Asolanus; Calamitalean axes and foliage attributable to Annularia and Asterophyllites; Sphenophyllalean sphenopsids; Marattialean fern foliage mostly unidentifiable but some attributable to either Polymorphopteris or Lobatopteris; a variety of small ferns; medullosan pteridosperms of the genera Alethopteris, Barthelopteris, Charliea; and forms of uncertain affinity, Taeniopteris and Sphenopteris germanica. The flora also contains a variety of reproductive organs, including many types of seeds. Most of the floral elements can be found across tropical Pangea from present-day western North America into the central regions of the supercontinent in present-day Europe. Nearly all of the assemblages are of allochthonous origin, with some rare and notable exceptions, and were deposited in coastal plain to nearshore environments. Thus, most of the plant remains are fragmentary, and many identifications are tentative. Total biodiversity is difficult to estimate due to the vagaries of preservation and disarticulation of the plants, but a rough approximation is somewhere between 50 and 60 species, depending on how determinations are made and on the number of unique but fragmentary specimens that could not be identified with confidence.
Fossil Ptelea Samaras (Rutaceae) in North America
American Journal of Botany, 1995
Fossil samaras referred to the exumt rutaceous genus PIe/eo. 1. eomprise an artificial collection of five distinct taxa with convergent fruIt morphologies. Critieal reexamination of these fossils revealed that only one of the five samara types can be referred to Pte/ea. Two of the forms can be assigned without reservation to Tiliaceae (Pre/eaecarpum = Craigia) or Caprifohaceae ("Ple/ea" cassioides [part], "Plelea" mlOcenica [part)). Taxonomic affinities of the two remaining fruit types (" Pte/eo." eocentca, "PIe/ea." cassiaides [part)) are undetermined. Genuine fossil PIe/eo. samaras are restricted to Miocene floras in the western United States, including the Hog Creek (Weiser) and Succor Creek floras near the Oregon-Idaho border and the Stinking Water flora of east-central Oregon. These samaras bear the names P. miocenica Berry and P. enervusa H. V. Smith. The holotype of P. mlOcenica. is a caprifoliaceous infructescence similar to that of Dlpe/la Maxlmowicz, so P. enervosa, preVIOusly considered a synonym of P. miocenica, is the valid combination for fossil Plelea samaras. P. enervosa samaras are the oldest reliably determined fossil Ple/ea. fruits. These samaras indicate that the Toddalieae-Pteleinae lineage of subfamily Toddalloideae has been present in North America since the Miocene, rather than the Eocene as suggested by previously misidentified speeimens.
Phylogeny of New World Stipeae (Poaceae): an evaluation of the monophyly of Aciachne and Amelichloa
Cladistics, 2010
© The Willi Hennig Society 2010.© The Willi Hennig Society 2010.AbstractThe tribe Stipeae, with nearly 550 species, includes 28 core genera, of which 13 occur in America: Achnatherum, Aciachne, Amelichloa, Anatherostipa, Hesperostipa, Jarava, Nassella, Ortachne, Oryzopsis, Pappostipa, Piptatherum, Piptochaetium and Ptilagrostis. Based on 37 species representing 14 Stipeae genera, and using four chloroplast markers and morphological characters, we provide a phylogenetic hypothesis of the New World Stipeae, with our focus on Amelichloa and Aciachne. Parsimony analyses included two approaches: (i) a multiple-sequence alignment where gaps were treated as missing or coded, (ii) using direct sequences by direct optimization as implemented by the program POY v.4.0.2870. Analyses under direct optimization were conducted using the molecular data sets independently and combined, and with morphological data. Different cost regimes were explored and the one producing the highest congruence between partitions was chosen. Among the genera considered, only Piptochaetium, Austrostipa, and Hesperostipa were resolved as monophyletic, while Achnatherum, Amelichloa s.l., Anatherostipa, Jarava and Nassella were polyphyletic, and Aciachne was polyphyletic or paraphyletic. As a result, Amelichloa can be restricted to a monophyletic group if including A. brachychaeta, A. ambigua, A. clandestina and A. caudata, or it should be considered within Nassella. The phylogenetic position of species of Aciachne suggests inbreeding and outbreeding events with species of Anatherostipa, Ortachne and Hesperostipa.The tribe Stipeae, with nearly 550 species, includes 28 core genera, of which 13 occur in America: Achnatherum, Aciachne, Amelichloa, Anatherostipa, Hesperostipa, Jarava, Nassella, Ortachne, Oryzopsis, Pappostipa, Piptatherum, Piptochaetium and Ptilagrostis. Based on 37 species representing 14 Stipeae genera, and using four chloroplast markers and morphological characters, we provide a phylogenetic hypothesis of the New World Stipeae, with our focus on Amelichloa and Aciachne. Parsimony analyses included two approaches: (i) a multiple-sequence alignment where gaps were treated as missing or coded, (ii) using direct sequences by direct optimization as implemented by the program POY v.4.0.2870. Analyses under direct optimization were conducted using the molecular data sets independently and combined, and with morphological data. Different cost regimes were explored and the one producing the highest congruence between partitions was chosen. Among the genera considered, only Piptochaetium, Austrostipa, and Hesperostipa were resolved as monophyletic, while Achnatherum, Amelichloa s.l., Anatherostipa, Jarava and Nassella were polyphyletic, and Aciachne was polyphyletic or paraphyletic. As a result, Amelichloa can be restricted to a monophyletic group if including A. brachychaeta, A. ambigua, A. clandestina and A. caudata, or it should be considered within Nassella. The phylogenetic position of species of Aciachne suggests inbreeding and outbreeding events with species of Anatherostipa, Ortachne and Hesperostipa.
Family 22. Staphylinidae Latreille, 1802
Cover photographs courtesy of Michael C. Thomas Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Pnblication Data American beetles I edited by Ross H. Arnett and Michael C. Thomas. p. em. Contents: v. I. Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga: Staphyliniformia. Includes bibliographical references (p.).