Xu Qingqing, Zhou Wenjun, Kodrul Tatiana M, Naugolnykh Serge V, Jin Jianhua
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20013, USA.
Sci Rep. 2015 Nov 9;5:16390. doi: 10.1038/srep16390.
Fossil records indicate that the genus Pinus L. split into two subgenera by the Late Cretaceous, although subgenus Strobus (D. Don) Lemmon is less well documented than subgenus Pinus L., especially in eastern Asia. In this paper, Pinus maomingensis sp. nov. is established based on a compressed seed cone from the upper Eocene of the Maoming Basin of southern China. This species is attributed to genus Pinus, subgenus Strobus, section Quinquefoliae Duhamel, subsection Strobus Loudon based on the combination of morphological characters obtained from the cone scales, specifically from the terminal umbo, rhombic apophysis, and cuticle structure. Associated fascicles of needle leaves with deciduous sheaths and bulbous bases are recognized as Pinus sp. and also represent Pinus subgenus Strobus. This new discovery from the Maoming Basin constitutes the first megafossil record of subgenus Strobus from southern China and implies that the members of this subgenus arrived in the southern region of China by the late Eocene. The extant species of subgenus Strobus are mainly distributed in northern temperate and tropical to subtropical mountainous regions. We propose that the Maoming Basin was adjacent to a mountainous region during the late Eocene.
化石记录表明，松属（Pinus L.）在晚白垩世时分为两个亚属，尽管冷杉亚属（Strobus (D. Don) Lemmon）的记录不如松亚属（Pinus L.）完善，尤其是在东亚地区。在本文中，茂名松（Pinus maomingensis sp. nov.）是根据中国南方茂名盆地上始新统的一个压扁的球果建立的。基于从种鳞获得的形态特征组合，特别是从顶端瘤、菱形鳞盾和角质层结构，该物种被归入松属、冷杉亚属、五针松组（Quinquefoliae Duhamel）、冷杉亚组（Strobus Loudon）。带有落叶叶鞘和球茎状基部的相关针叶束被认定为松属物种，也代表冷杉亚属。茂名盆地的这一新发现构成了中国南方冷杉亚属的首个大化石记录，意味着该亚属成员在始新世晚期抵达中国南方地区。冷杉亚属的现存物种主要分布在北温带以及热带至亚热带山区。我们推测，始新世晚期茂名盆地与一个山区相邻。
