A new Cercis (Leguminosae) from the middle Miocene of Fujian, China

ABSTRACT

Neogene plant fossils from low latitudes of China are critical for understanding the history of plant diversity and paleoenvironment in that region. Here we describe well-preserved Cercis fruit fossils from the Fotan Group (~14.7 Ma) in Fujian, southeastern China. Based on detailed morphological and anatomical comparisons with extant and fossil species, we refer to these fossils as Cercis zhangpuensis sp. nov. Cercis zhangpuensis, most similar to C. chinensis A.V. Bunge among extant species of the genus. The currently described species is the southmost fossil record of the genus in Asia. In addition, we have studied cuticle structures of Cercis pod fossils for the first time. The occurrence of Cercis fossils indicates that the genus existed in Fujian, China since the middle Miocene. Available fossil records indicate that Cercis firstly appeared in North America during the Eocene, then spread in Europe and Asia since the Oligocene, with its distribution attaining the peak in the Miocene. We conclude that East Asia may represent one of the major centres of diversification of Cercis in the Miocene.

KEYWORDS:

• Leguminosae
• cercis
• fujian
• china
• middle Miocene

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Junling Dong, Fankai Sun and Peng Deng from Lanzhou University for assistance in the fieldwork. We are also grateful to Hangzhou Botanical Garden, Zhejiang Province for permission to access extant materials of Cercis. This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program (B) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB26000000); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41972010, 41772014, 41902010, 41802019, 41911530258); and Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20191100) and State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS) (No. 20192109).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [41972010, 41772014, 41902010, 41802019, 41911530258]; Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province [BK20191100]; State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS) [20192109]; Strategic Priority Research Program (B) of Chinese Academy of Sciences [XDB26000000].