Late Eocene white pines (Pinus subgenus Strobus) from southern China

• DOI: 10.1038/srep16390
• Publication Date: 2015-11-09T10:36:05Z
• Authors: Qingqing Xu; Wenjun Zhou; Tatiana M. Kodrul; Serge V. Naugolnykh; Jianhua Jin
• Keywords: Subgenus

Fossil records indicate that the genus Pinus L. split into two subgenera by Late Cretaceous, although subgenus Strobus (D. Don) Lemmon is less well documented than L., especially in eastern Asia. In this paper, maomingensis sp. nov. established based on a compressed seed cone from upper Eocene of Maoming Basin southern China. This species attributed to Pinus, Strobus, section Quinquefoliae Duhamel, subsection Loudon combination morphological characters obtained scales, specifically terminal umbo, rhombic apophysis, and cuticle structure. Associated fascicles needle leaves with deciduous sheaths bulbous bases are recognized as also represent Strobus. new discovery constitutes first megafossil record China implies members arrived region late Eocene. The extant mainly distributed northern temperate tropical subtropical mountainous regions. We propose was adjacent during