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First megafossil record of Neolepisorus (Polypodiaceae) from the late Miocene of Yunnan, Southwest China

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Abstract

The first megafossil record of the genus Neolepisorus Ching from the late Miocene of Yunnan Province, SW China, is reported. Neolepisorus chingii sp. nov. is represented by a simple fertile frond with one line exindusiate, elliptic-fusiform sori along the lower part of the midrib, and a basal contractive sterile frond with a sinuolate margin. The venation is characterized by a strong midrib, prominent zigzagging lateral veins, and reticulate higher order veins with free-ending veinlets (simple or forked once). The combination of these characters confirms the genus Neolepisorus (Polypodiaceae), now distributed in subtropical Southeast Asia, except for one species, which inhabits Madagascar of tropical Africa. It has a distribution center south of the Yangtze River in China. So far, no megafossil assigned to Neolepisorus has been reported, and the occurrence of Neolepisorus chingii in SW China associated with other types of fern occurrence adds increased evidence of fern radiation during the Neogene in Yunnan Province in response to the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau.

Kurzfassung

Das erste Makrofossil der Gattung Neolepisorus Ching wird aus dem späten Miozän der Provinz Yunnan in SW-China beschrieben. Neolepisorus chingii sp. nov. ist durch einen einfachen fertilen Wedel mit einzeiligen exindusiaten, elliptisch-spindelförmigen Sori entlang dem unteren Teil der Mittelrippe und einem basalen kontraktiven sterilen Wedel mit sinuolaten Rand charakterisiert. Die Äderung wird von einer starken Mittelrippe, prominenten zickzackförmigen Seitenrippen sowie netzförmigen Adern höherer Ordnung, mit frei endenden Äderchen (einfach oder einmal gegabelt), gekennzeichnet. Die Kombination dieser Merkmale bestätigt für unser Taxon eine Zugehörigkeit zur Gattung Neolepisorus (Polypodiaceae). Deren Vertreter sind heute, mit einer Ausnahme (Madagaskar), im subtropischen Südostasien verbreitet, wobei ein Verbreitungszentrum in China, südlich des Jangtse, liegt. Bisher fehlten Nachweise von Neolepisorus-Makrofossilien, so dass das südwestchinesische Vorkommen von Neolepisorus chingii sp. nov. (zusammen mit dort assoziiert vorkommenden anderen Farnarten) einen weiteren Beleg einer neogenen Radiation der Farne in Yunnan liefert, welche als Reaktion auf die Hebung des Tibet-Plateaus interpretiert werden kann.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Hong Li, Lei Wang, Wen–Wen Wen, Yi Yang, Kenan Liu, and Yunfeng Wang for assistance in the fieldwork; Dr. Harald Schneider from the Natural History Museum, UK, and another two anonymous reviewers for constructive suggestions; and Dr. Chang Gen-Ying from Lanzhou University for editing the German abstract. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41172021, 41302009), the Foundation of the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS (No. 113107), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (No. lzujbky-2015-66).

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  1. School of Earth Sciences and Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources in Western China (Gansu Province), Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Sanping Xie, Binke Li, Sihang Zhang, Yang Shao, Jingyu Wu & Bainian Sun

  2. State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, CAS, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Sanping Xie

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Xie, S., Li, B., Zhang, S. et al. First megafossil record of Neolepisorus (Polypodiaceae) from the late Miocene of Yunnan, Southwest China. PalZ 90, 413–423 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-016-0304-x

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