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On the fossil history of Pseudotsuga Carr. (Pinaceae) in Europe

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Abstract

Pseudotsuga is an accessory element in the Neogene vegetation in Central Europe. Two species based on coalified seed cones and one species each based on leaves and wood have been described so far from Miocene and Pliocene localities, mainly in Germany. Based on a new seed cone record from the site of Wiesa in Germany, I describe here evidence supporting the extension of the stratigraphic range of Pseudotsuga jechorekiae Czaja, including the late early Miocene. An emended diagnosis is given and a neotype is proposed for the Pliocene Pseudotsuga loehrii comb. nov. The leaf record is revisited and critically evaluated as leaf cuticles previously determined as “Pseudotsuga oceanines” are reinterpreted herein as Tsuga or Nothotsuga. Subsequently, the late Oligocene presence of the genus in Central Europe exclusively based on “Pseudotsuga oceanines” remains doubtful. The fossil cone species are morphologically compared to the extant species, with the highest conformity found to the Asian species. Finally, palaeophytosociological, palaeoautecological and palaeoclimatic aspects of the fossil species are compiled.

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Acknowledgements

My sincere thanks go to my colleagues who are curators of the collections used for this investigation: PD Dr. Volker Wilde (Senckenberg Research Institute Frankfurt/M., Germany) and Dr. Olaf Tietz (Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz, Germany). For technical help with the collection material thanks are due to Karin Schmidt (Frankfurt), Henriette Jechorek (Görlitz) and my wife Carola Kunzmann (Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden, Germany). I am grateful to the late Prof. Dr. Dieter Mai (Berlin), the late Dr. Martin Hottenrott (Wiesbaden, Germany), Dr. Wilfrid Schneider (Hoyerswerda, Germany), Prof. Dr. Johanna Eder (Stuttgart, Germany) and Prof. Dr. Zlatko Kvaček (Prague, Czech Republic) for the helpful discussions I had with them on the topic. Thanks go to Boglarka Erdei and Vasilis Teodoridis for their helpful comments on the first version of the manuscript and to the Editor-in-Chief and the associate editors for their corrections. This is a contribution to the NECLIME network.

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  1. Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden, Museum of Mineralogy and Geology, Koenigsbruecker Landstrasse 159, 01109, Dresden, Germany

    Lutz Kunzmann

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Correspondence to Lutz Kunzmann.

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This publication is dedicated to my esteemed colleague and friend Prof. Dr. Han van Konijnenburg-van Cittert (Leiden, Utrecht, The Netherlands) to thank her for our fruitful collaboration in studying fossil conifers and for many helpful discussions, especially on nomenclature, in the last 20 years. My wish is to continue this work also after the retirement of Prof. Dr. Han van Konijnenburg-van Cittert in 2013.

This article is a contribution to the special issue “Green planet - 400 million years of terrestrial floras. Papers in honour of JHA van Konijnenburg-van Cittert”

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Kunzmann, L. On the fossil history of Pseudotsuga Carr. (Pinaceae) in Europe. Palaeobio Palaeoenv 94, 393–409 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-014-0156-x

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