Branches and leafy shoots of fossil Glyptostrobus Endlicher (Cupressaceae s.l.), preserved as compressions of leaf cuticle with stomata and a single scale of a seed cone, have been found for the first time in the Jijuntun Formations of the Eocene in Fushun, Liaoning Province, NE China. These fossil remains are identified asGlyptostrobus by comparing them with Sequoia, Metasequoia, and Taxodium, which are commonly in association and have similar morphological features. The fossil remains are assigned to Glyptostrobus based on characters of leaf morphotypes, phyllotaxis, leaf apex, leaf base, epidermal cell morphology, orientation of stomata, and a single flabellate ovuliferous scale of a seed cone. All of the characteristics of the fossil remains are in agreement with those of the diagnosis of G. europaeus(Brongn.) Ung. These newly described Glyptostrobus specimens from China represent linear, linear-subulate, and scale-like leaves. The species G. europaeus is common for Eurasia where it has a wide geographic and stratigraphic range, but the cuticle characteristics of the species are rarely reported. In China, fossil remains of G. europaeus have been found in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Xinjiang, Yunnan, and Hong Kong.
Qing-Wen MA, Sergey Vasilyevich VIKULIN, Cheng-Sen LI, Yu-Fei WANG
. Details of compressions of Glyptostrobus (Cupressaceae s.l.) from the Eocene of Fushun, NE China[J]. Journal of Systematics and Evolution, 2013
, 51(5)
: 601
-608
.
DOI: 10.1111/jse.12035