Dioscoreaceae fossils from the late Oligocene and early Miocene of Ethiopia

作者：Pan Aaron D^*; Jacobs Bonnie F; Currano Ellen D

来源：Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 175(1): 17-28.

DOI：10.1111/boj.12150

• cuticle
• Africa
• micromorphology
• epidermal cells

Dioscorea section Lasiophyton leaflets from the late Oligocene (27.23 Ma) and Tacca leaves from the early Miocene (21.73 Ma) of north-western Ethiopia greatly expand the known fossil record of Dioscoreaceae and represent the earliest and only known records of the Afro-Asian trifoliate, palmately veined yams (Dioscorea) and bat flowers (Tacca). Both fossils occur in volcaniclastic and clastic sediments associated with a high water table, and the palaeofloral assemblages are indicative of tropical moist forest formations. These fossils provide insight into the evolutionary history of the family in Africa during the mid-Cenozoic and provide well-dated taxa that can assist in phylogenetic analyses and evolutionary divergence studies for Dioscoreales and Dioscoreaceae.

• 出版日期2014-5