Am. J. Bot. Li-Cor Advertisement
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

First published online October 26, 2009; doi:10.3732/ajb.0900085
American Journal of Botany 96: 2031-2047 (2009)
© 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.
 		  Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter
What's this?
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
ajb.0900085v1
ajb.0900085v2
96/11/2031    most recent
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wilf, P.
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, K. R.
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Wilf, P.
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, K. R.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Wilf, P.
Right arrow Articles by Johnson, K. R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Paleobotany

Papuacedrus (Cupressaceae) in Eocene Patagonia: A new fossil link to Australasian rainforests1

Peter Wilf2,8, Stefan A. Little2,9, Ari Iglesias2,3, María del Carmen Zamaloa4, María A. Gandolfo5, N. Rubén Cúneo6 and Kirk R. Johnson7

2 Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 USA 3 Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, 1900, La Plata, Argentina 4 Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Intendente Güiraldes 2620, C1428EHA Buenos Aires, Argentina 5 L. H. Bailey Hortorium, Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 USA 6 Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Trelew 9100, Chubut, Argentina 7 Department of Earth Sciences, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver, Colorado 80205 USA

ABSTRACT

The 51.9 Ma Laguna del Hunco (LH) and 47.5 Ma Río Pichileufú (RP) floras from Patagonia, Argentina are unusually rich, angiosperm-dominated assemblages with living relatives in the low-latitude West Pacific, neotropics, and temperate southern latitudes. The diverse gymnosperms in these floras are important for Gondwanan biogeographic history and paleoclimatic interpretations. "Libocedrus" prechilensis Berry 1938 (Cupressaceae), previously known only from the holotype (RP), a vegetative branch, is revised here based on new material from both localities, including a seed cone attached to a shoot with cuticle (LH). Characters of these fossils are diagnostic of monotypic Papuacedrus (highlands of New Guinea and Moluccas). Living P. papuana is most abundant in cloud forests receiving up to 4 m rainfall annually, whereas Austrocedrus (Libocedrus) chilensis, the basis of comparison when the fossil species was named, inhabits dry, cold steppe margins to mediterranean climates in southern South America. We establish Papuacedrus prechilensis comb. nov., which simultaneously invalidates a southern South American connection for the fossil floras and reveals a link to West Pacific montane rainforests. Combined evidence indicates a biome similar to extant subtropical, or tropical montane, rainforests that persisted for at least 4.4 Myr, linking elevated floral richness to abundant rainfall.

Key Words: Austrocedrus • Cupressaceae • Eocene • Laguna del Hunco • Libocedrus • paleoclimate • Papuacedrus • Patagonia • Río Pichileufú • subtropical rainforest

Received for publication 26 March 2009. Accepted for publication 7 July 2009.

FOOTNOTES

1 The authors thank A. Ash, L. Canessa, M. Caffa, J. Cantolina, B. Cariglino, I. Escapa, H. Gong, C. González, R. Horwitt, P. Puerta, E. Romero, E. Ruigomez, H. Smekal, Y. Watanabe, S. Wing, and J. Wingerath for invaluable assistance in the field and laboratory; the Nahueltripay family and Instituto de Investigaciones Aplicadas for land access; R. Horwitt and R. Stockey for critically reading drafts; two anonymous reviewers and the editors for useful suggestions; T. Brodribb, R. Carpenter, T. Ehlers, A. Farjon, R. Kooyman, R. Paull, and A. Traverse for timely and perceptive comments; R. Kooyman for access to unpublished data; and Z. Kvacek and Z. Zhou for helpful photographs. Extremely useful assistance and permission to take photographs was provided by the herbarium staff at K (A. Farjon), NSW (L. L. Lee, L. Murray), MEL (C. Gallagher), and US (K. Rankin, R. Russell). This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation grants DEB-0345750 and DEB-0919071, National Geographic Society grant 7337-02, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Fulbright Foundation.

8 Author for correspondence (e-mail: pwilf{at}psu.edu)

9 Present address: Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 USA


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?




HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by the Botanical Society of America, Inc.