Revisions to the Eocene carpoflora of Anjou, western France, with new data from X-ray tomography

ABSTRACT

Selected fruits and seeds preserved as molds and casts in sediments from the Anjou flora of Maine-et-Loire have been reexamined with the aid of X-ray tomography. Virtual casts and surface renderings from micro-CT scanning data reveal external and internal morphological characters that were not visible by standard reflected light microscopy. Application of this methodology leads to a revision of the fruit formerly treated as Juglandicarya. It is a 5-valved capsule of likely sapindalean affinity, and is placed in Vaudoisia gruetii (Vaudois-Miéja) gen. et. comb. nov. A seed with the characteristic rumination of Anonaspermum is also recognized for the first time, as are capsular fruits of Ericaceae. We note that many disseminules are hidden from optical viewing because they are buried within the hand samples. A more extensive micro-CT scan investigation of more samples, including those showing only fossil leaf impressions at the surface, may be expected to yield a wealth of new information on this classic flora.

KEYWORDS:

• Fossil fruits
• casts
• molds
• micro-CT scanning
• Paleogene
• Maine-et-Loire
• France

Acknowledgments

We thank Terry Lott for technical assistance, the Imaging and Analyse Center of the Natural History Museum, London for the CT scans of the specimens, Benoît Mellier, the Muséum des Sciences Naturelles d’Angers, Gérard Beaulieu, l’Université Catholique de l’Ouest, Angers for the loan of the specimens. Nicolas Morel from the “Musée Vert” (Le Mans) provided access to the “grès à Sabalites” collection for specimen comparisons. CS-D thanks Prof. Hubert Lardeux for helpful discussion about the age of the “grès à Sabalites”; she also acknowledges funding from the Mécènes et Loire Fondation and Terra Botanica, Angers (France).

Author contributions

CS-D and PK designed the research program; ARTS undertook the CT data acquisition; SRM and ARTS generated the 3D digital reconstructions; SRM, DDF and WSJ analysed the data and wrote the first version of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

None.