Relict conifers from the mid-Pleistocene of Rhodes, Greece

Abstract

The mid-Pleistocene Kolymbia Flora of Rhodes, Greece occurs in the Lindos Bay Clay facies group of the Rhodes Formation and was deposited in a marine setting at about a depth of 200 m. Recorded in the flora are the youngest presence of Glyptostrobus in the eastern Mediterranean, an extinct species of Pinus very similar to the modern relict Pinus canariensis, and a new species of the disjunct Cedrus. These taxa indicate that some relict plant taxa existed on Rhodes later than previously recognised. The late presence of Taxodiaceae in the eastern Mediterranean may demerit its usefulness for determining the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary. The finding of Liquidambar, Zelkova and Fagus in the flora supports the idea of Rhodes, and possibly the eastern Mediterranean, as a refugium during the mid-Pleistocene. Similar fossil assemblages should be found in adjacent Turkey because the Lindos Bay Clay records an extensive marine transgression probably resulting from graben tectonics that lead to the ultimate separation of Rhodes from mainland Turkey.

Keywords:

• fossil conifers
• Pleistocene
• Rhodes
• relict taxa
• phytogeography
• taxonomy

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank G. Rønholt and J. Miller for their assistance in the field and R. Bromley for reading an early version of the manuscript and field and financial succor (partially support by the Danish National Science Foundation project #9502842). Two anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for their comments in an earlier version as well as Mihai Popa.