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A single sterile compression matching Baragwanathia Lang et Cookson in all important morphological traits – a dichotomously branched stem densely covered with sub-parallel abaxially slightly bent linear microphylls partly truncate and partly rounded at tips – was discovered in the upper Silurian Požary Formation at Karlstejn in the Barrandian area (Czech Republic). The fossil is assigned to a new species Baragwanathia brevifolia Kraft et Kvacek, sp. nov. and its stratigraphical position is dated by co-occurring graptolites (lower Přidoli, Neocolonograptus ultimus Biozone). Due to the compression and high degree of coalification, no anatomical data are available to prove unambiguously the affinity to vascular plants but medial strands in microphylls indicate thicker tissue of a single midrib unknown in algae. Although the studied fossil recalls superficially hemichordates (graptolites) or hydroids this view is demonstrably denied by several reliable characters. A part of the stem is covered by epibiontic fauna (bryozoans and brachiopods) proving that it dwelled submerged in marine water environment. Based on the attached epibionts an attempt is made to visualize the life mode of this plant as growing in marine environment and possibly stretching out of the water by parts not colonized by epibionts. All direct and indirect evidences convincingly indicate the fossil to be an aquatic precursor of dry-land microphyllous plants, i.e. lycophytes. It is a significant piece of puzzle to the global high-resolution paleogeography of the Gondwanan margin.

Plant fossil assemblages (foliage, fruits and seeds, pollen, wood) from the Pliocene and early Pleistocene deposits in W Bohemia (the Vildstejn Formation of the Cheb Basin, Tachov/Cheb–Domažlice/ Graben) are newly analysed using several palaeoenvironmental methods with the aim to reconstruct palaeovegetation and palaeoclimatic changes. Floras of four subsequent stratigraphic levels show a decrease of exotic elements in the Pliocene and a massive immigration of boreal elements in the early Pleistocene. Vegetation changes start with broad-leaved deciduous and mixed mesophytic forests and continue towards light forests of the mentioned types in areas of zonal to extrazonal habitats. This vegetational change is characterised by an immigration of dry herbaceous and sclerophyllous elements. Wetland communities from higher positions in the profiles stepwise loose exotic components and point to cool–temperate conditions similar to the present conditions. Palaeoclimatic signals show warmer and more humid conditions for the Pliocene levels (about 15 °C of mean annual temperature, 5 °C of mean temperature of the coldest month and 25 °C of mean temperature of the warmest month, more than 900 mm of mean annual precipitation). Early Pleistocene proxy data indicate the beginning of a cooler phase at the Plio-Pleistocene boundary (about 7 °C of mean annual temperature and decreasing trend of precipitation), but conditions not colder than those of the present day in the NW part of the Bohemian Massif.

An extensive collection of nearly 4200 fossil plants remains from lower Miocene deposits at Bilina and Břesťany were examined for signs of damage caused by arthropods. Determining the frequency and diversity of plant–arthropod interactions was the main objective, followed by a comparison of the level of damage to plant taxa for which there were at least 25 specimens. There were significant differences in the frequencies of the damage caused by the different functional feeding groups in the whole assemblage and individual taxa. Comparison of the diversity of the different types of damage by rarefying their five occurrences also confirmed the differences in the levels attained. The highest diversity was recorded for deciduous trees ( Alnus , Nyssa and Populus ). The organisms that caused some of the highly specific types of damage, such as mining and oviposition, were taxonomically identified on the basis of their unique morphological traits. There was one remarkable non-herbivore plant–arthropod interaction represented by a solitary record of a caddisfly case built exclusively of Taxodium needles.

article i nfo Previously known Eocene floras of mid-latitudinal Europe are analysed using statistical methodologies in order to obtain more reliable palaeoclimatological signals to detect possible climatic fluctuations during this time interval. Only macrofossil assemblages have been taken into account and subjected to the statistical evaluation called the Integrated Plant Record (IPR) vegetation analysis, which is based mostly on percentages of various components. Additional palaeoclimatic approaches were employed, namely the Coexistence Approach, based on autecology of the nearest living relatives, and the physiognomic methods of the Leaf Margin Analysis and Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program (CLAMP). The same statistical approaches have been applied to analogous living vegetation of China and Japan for comparative purposes. Additionally, an update of objective statistical tools for the selection of the best-suited modern vegetation CLAMP dataset from 144 site (Physg3br/GRIDMet3br), 173 (Physg3ar/GRIDMet3ar) and 189 (PhysgAsia1/GRIDMetAsia1) extant biotopes is proposed including its "copy & paste" Excel application.

Terrestrial plants and insects account for the majority of the Earth's biodiversity today, and herbivorous interactions are dated back more than 400 million yr. However, investigation of their associations remains in its infancy in Europe. The Miocene is characterized by palaeogeographic re-organization due to the collision of the African with the Eurasian plates. Antarctica's enormous impact on global climatic conditions, and thus on European palaeoenvironment, resulted from a series of episodes of minor glaciations in the Early Miocene after the initial cooling and ice sheet formed during the Oligocene. More than 3500 plant remains showing various kinds of feeding damage were available for the present study. These trace fossils are classified according to their external morphology into damage types (DT) and grouped to functional feeding-groups. The Neogene plant record in Europe is rich and diverse, offering a profound large-scale understanding of the floristic and vegetational development. A database of fossil traces from the Most Basin was compiled and analyzed by various statistical methods in terms of the diversity and intensity of palaeoherbivory. The primary objective is to present results on the development of insect herbivory through the section of the Bilina Mine in North Bohemia, with the aim of understanding the principal factors that caused the observed phenomena. The research was focused on two horizons—Delta Sandy Horizon (DSH) and Lake Clayey Horizon (LCH)—both sufficiently represented to compare their palaeoecological and palaeoclimatological signals on the basis of the presence of damages caused by insects and other herbivorous arthropods. A total sample of 60 different damage types, attributed to eight main functional feeding groups, was examined. Results from analyses of the frequency and diversity of the selected categories of plant arthropod associations within both examined horizons significantly support different environmental conditions. The LCH seems to be affected by the relatively colder and drier climatic conditions as indicated by a four times greater frequency of leaves with galls and lower taxonomic diversity and species equability, whereas DSH indicates warmer and more humid conditions reflecting the higher diversity of the plant species and damage types.

article i nfo Newly collected material of Comptonia leaves and fruits (C. naumannii and C. tymensis, respectively) from the lower Miocene of Weichang, China, are studied in detail. The leaves show great similarities in morphology and cuticular structures to those of the single extant species C. peregrina. It suggests a close genetic relationship between C. numannii and C. peregrina. Comptonia was widespread over the Northern Hemisphere during most of the Cenozoic, and obviously migrated into Asia from North America via a continental connection in the Eocene. Due to the cooling of global climate, it may have later gradually evolved into two ecotypes (thermophilous and cold tolerant). In the early Miocene C. naumannii was recorded from Northeast Asia and Alaska, but it disappeared from Alaska in the latest Miocene. The records suggest that plant exchange between Northeast Asia and North America may have ceased after the early Miocene. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Extant Berberis is a member of the basal eudicots with a South America (group Australes)-Old World (group Septentrionales) disjunctive distribution pattern. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain the formation of this pattern. Recent molecular studies suggest that this pattern was caused by a vicariance event in the Cretaceous. More fossil evidence is required to evaluate these hypotheses. Here a new species of Berberis from the Palaeocene Wuyun flora is established based on a detailed comparison with all other fossil and related living Berberis. The occurrence of a Palaeocene Berberis in NE China and other fossil data suggest that 1) the genus originated in eastern Asia, 2) the leaf venation of the genus probably evolved from pinnate to acrodromous, leaf margins from densely spinose teeth to only occasionally toothed or even entire, 3) the genus would appear to have migrated from eastern Asia to North America in the Oligocene, via Beringia. Berberis probably arrived in Europe from Asia during the late Oligocene when Eurasia was reunited after the retreat of the Turgai Straits. Berberis could have migrated to India from eastern Asia, arriving before the last major upheaval of the Himalayas in the Pleistocene.

Leaf remains of Ilex L. sect. Ilex known from the Pliocene of Auenheim (Alsace, France) and Frankfurt a. M. - Niederrad (Hesse, Germany) as Ilex aff. cornuta Lindley fossilis Geissert and Ilex aquifolium L. fossilis Engelhardt, respectively, are re-interpreted as representing a new species Ilex geissertii Kvacek, Teodoridis et Wang Qing, sp. nov. Similar leaf fossils occur also in the upper Miocene of the Netherlands (Brunssum), France (Murat), and the Pliocene of Italy (Valdarno Superiore). Although these fossil records were considered either direct ancestors of I . aquifolium L. (Near-East, Europe, N Africa) or allied to I. cornuta Lindley and Paxton (China and Korea), both the mentioned extant species differ in the leaf morphology. Close affinities of I. geissertii to several extant representatives of Ilex subsect. Ilex (= Oxyodontae Loesener nom . illegit .) are indisputable and stress a common origin of this group of the hollies known already from the Oligocene in Europe ( Ilex castellii Kvacek et Walther). Several extinct elements of the European late Miocene and Pliocene flora accompanying this new holly (e.g., Ginkgo , Taxodium , Fagus kraeuselii , Parrotia , Craigia , and Trichosanthes ) share similar former phyllogeography in having their modern nearest relatives outside Europe.

A new fossil species of Vallisneria ( V. janecekii Bogner & Kvacek, sp. n., Hydrocharitaceae) is reported from Early Miocene freshwater lake deposits of the North Bohemian brown coal basin (Czech Republic). It is based on a single fragmentary sterile plant bearing two clusters of ribbon-shaped widely serrulate leaves on a short rhizome. It is a potential producer of seeds described from equivalent and slightly older deposits in Saxony (Germany) as Vallisneria ovalis Mai.

Fossil remains of Taxodium from upper Eocene to lower Miocene localities in Germany, the Czech Republic and Russia are investigated to reconsider taxonomic concepts. It is demonstrated that all material belongs to one species which is named Taxodium dubium (Sternberg) Heer emend. Using the whole-plant concept, T. dubium is considered as a synthetic species comprising foliage, seed cones, seeds, and male cones with pollen in situ. Shared identity of T. dubium and the wood morpho-taxon Taxodioxylon taxodii Gothan is assumed. Taxodium dubium underwent evolutionary changes through the Oligocene expressed mainly in changes of the cone scale ornamentation. To designate this intraspecific variation taxonomically two morpho-formae are distinguished: T. dubium forma heerii (Dorofeev) Kunzmann, Kvacek, Mai et Walther stat. nov. et emend. and T. dubium forma dubium. Simultaneous intraspecific variations in leaf morphology and leaf epidermal anatomy are missing. Taxodium dubium occurs from the late Eocene to late Miocene in the (Atlantic-) Boreal province sensu Mai of Central Europe and from the late Oligocene to late Pliocene in the Transeuropean Paratethys province sensu Mai.

Climatic characteristics of selected extant relatives and analogues for palaeotropical and neotropical European Cenozoic plant elements are compared with the proxies derived from comparisons of complete plant assemblages containing the respective elements with analogous extant vegetation. The discrepancies obtained may warn us not to lay too much stress on such actualistic data. Methodologies relying on autecology of the nearest living relatives may thus produce biased and possibly unrealistic proxies. The differences in climatic estimates derived from physiognomical methodologies (e.g., leaf margin analysis and CLAMP) may be explained in this way but more studies in approximations between the Neogene and extant analogous vegetation and climate are needed to provide more objective data.

Assemblages of plant megafossils from the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene sites in southern Europe have been re-evaluated in order to get data for reconstructing the development of vegetation and climate during this time interval (7–4 Ma). Main areas of the survey are centred in Greece and adjacent countries, Italy, southern France and Spain. As a product of this study, maps of the studied area for the Late Miocene have been produced showing main physiognomic features of the forests expressed in the proportions of broad-leaved deciduous, broad-leaved evergreen, legume-type and sclerophyllous components, respectively.

Fossil fruit with persistent corolla, which have been recorded in Europe, particularly from the Ohningen locality (middle Miocene of Germany), were originally assigned to the genus Porana Burm. (Convolvulaceae) by Heer. The present revision of Heer's material including the type and illustrated specimens has resulted in a new combination, Chaneya oeningensis (Unger) Teodoridis et Z. Kvacyek comb. nov., based on similarities in morphological traits of the wing-like perianth and reproductive organs with the recently established fossil genus Chaneya Wang et Manchester (Chaneya tenuis (Lesquereux) Wang et Manchester and Chaneya kokangensis (Endo) Wang et Manchester) from the Tertiary of North America and East Asia. While all these remains contain resinous bodies in their tissue, the cuticle structure newly obtained from the European (Ohningen) and China (Yilan) material is totally different from that, which was attributed to the Asian C. kokangensis and employed for systematic considerations. Although the precise systematic position of Chaneya remains uncertain, similarities in the re- interpreted floral morphology, the apocarpic superior gynoecium, the floral disc and oil cells in the petals suggest affinities to the Rutales, namely the Simaroubaceae or Rutaceae. Among the Simaroubaceae, Picrasma Bl. in particular is similar in the gynoecium organisation and wing-like petals persisting on fruits, but it differs from Chaneya in the lack of oil cells. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The sterile holotype of Polypodium fertile MacGinitie was re-examined together with other fertile type specimens from the Miocene Weaverville Formation at Redding Creek (California, western USA). In its leaf morphology, venation and in situ spores Polypodium fertile matches the extant Polypodium vulgare complex. The spores belong to the verrucose type I (sensu Lloyd). In view of discrepancies between the original description and the real morphology of the sterile frond of ‘Polypodium’ alternatum Pabst from the Chuckanut Formation of northwestern Washington (Eocene), this fern must be excluded from the record of Polypodium.

Abundant, well-preserved fruits of Craigia bronnii (Unger) Z. Kvacek, Bůžek et Manchester in various ontogenic stages have been found together with associated dispersed seeds and flower buds from a fossiliferous layer of late Miocene age within the Inden Formation in the Hambach open-cast lignite mine near Duren, the Lower Rhine Basin. Detailed morphological, anatomical features, along with characteristics of the in situ pollen provide new information on this arboreal element, which was widely distributed in the European Tertiary. The flower buds, previously described as Tilia gieskei Pingen et Gregor, are similar both to Tilia and Craigia , which are closely related extant genera. We interpret them to belong to the same species as the fossil fruits because of co-occurrence, and shared type of pubescence. The pollen is tricolporate with microreticulate, heterobrochate sculpture, thin endexine, and a thick footlayer. We caution that it could be difficult to distinguish Craigia and Tilia pollen without the combination of LM and SEM features and it is likely that many reports of Tilia , and Tilia -like pollen from the Tertiary of Europe may actually correspond to Craigia . Although the fruit morphology of these fossils conforms precisely to that of extant Craigia , this fossil plant differs in some respects (pollen sculpture, position of hilum) from the extant Craigia yunnanensis W.W. Smith et W.E. Evans, a relict of southern China. The associations of taxa, in which C. bronnii often occurs, including Taxodiaceae and hygrophilic broad-leaved deciduous trees and herbs, support the interpretation that it thrived in wetland habitats such as the Inden vegetation. Elsewhere in the European Tertiary, it entered also into the non-swampy parts of mesophytic forests. Hence its ecological tolerance may have been wider than that of its extant relatives.

The Early Miocene vegetation of western Styria, Austria, is reconstructed on the basis of detailed investigations of leaves and diaspores from the mining area Oberdorf N Voitsberg. In this paper, the flora and probable vegetation are compared with other assemblages of similar age from the Czech Republic and Germany to elucidate the diversity of wetland and mesophytic plant communities. The floristic composition and the vegetational units represented in Oberdorf are compared to the middle part of the Most Formation (M Most Fm), Cypris Shale, Mydlovary Formation (Mydlovary Fm) of Bohemia, and the Wackersdorf mining area of Bavaria. Among these sites, Oberdorf is extremely poor in hydrophytes and reed-like monocotyledons, indicating rare pond-like habitats as well as possibly more closed swamp forest conditions than, e.g. in the M Most Fm. In Oberdorf, relatively high pH-values in the lignite-forming swamps and the possible scarcity of acidic, nutrient-poor (sandy) soils have probably influenced the floristic composition of the azonal communities. The peat-forming associations in all regions share the abundance of Glyptostrobus europaeus. However, distinct differences in the accompanying elements, such as Taxodium dubium (present and abundant only in the M Most Fm) indicate even stronger floristic variability of Early(/Middle) Miocene peat-forming and riparian plant communities than previously expected. The virtual absence of Pinus, Engelhardia, Comptonia, and probably also of Quercus kubinyii/Quercus drymeja in the megafossil record of Oberdorf can possibly be explained by the edaphic conditions. The abundance of Sequoia abietina (absent in all the other compared sites), which we assign to riparian (and mesophytic) forests in Oberdorf, may have been favoured by rich alluvial soils. In the mesophytic associations, thermophilous elements of the Lauraceae, Mastixiaceae, Symplocaceae, and Rutaceae are diverse. Usually they include Trigonobalanopsis rhamnoides/Trigonobalanopsis exacantha, an evergreen Fagaceae. This assemblage type corresponds with the Younger Mastixioid Flora sensu Mai. The Younger Mastixioid Flora is best developed in Wackersdorf, less distinct in Oberdorf, and likely in the Cypris Shale and Mydlovary Fm. It is not traceable in the M Most Fm.

A twig fragment with attached verticillate leaves and capsules with intact seeds was recovered from the Lower Miocene lignitic clay in the Bilina strip mine (northern Bohemia). The seeds correspond to those known in dispersed condition as Decodon gibbosus (E.M. Reid) E.M. Reid in Nikitin, while the foliage matches that which has been called Ficus multinervis Heer, and sometimes Apocynophyllum helveticum Heer. While the determination of the seeds is safe, the identity of the isolated foliage may be less secure. Therefore the name Decodon gibbosus is given preference to designate the whole plant. This fossil species differs from the only extant species D. verticillatus (L.) Ell. of eastern North America by narrower triangular shape of seeds in transverse section, the thicker spongy layer of the testa on the dorsal side, and by long petiolate leaves that are more variable in shape (from narrow linear-lanceolate to broadly lanceolate) with more densely spaced secondaries and intersecondaries. The leaf cuticular structure matches that of the glabrous form of D. verticillatus. The associated plant assemblage suggests aquatic to swampy environment typical of the extant relative.

The Early Miocene deposits at Bilina (northern Bohemia) have yielded a wealth of plant fossils belonging to various sedimentary settings. The flora includes ferns (8 species), conifers (6 species) and angiosperms (more than 80 species). The modern Arcto-Tertiary element predominates. Vegetation of coal-forming swamps, flood plains/levees, shallow waters and crystalline uplands can be reconstructed. Aquatic plant horizons dominated by Salvinia contain unusual angiosperm herbs belonging to the Araceae, Lemnaceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ?Scrophulariaceae. Swamp forest was dominated by the Taxodiaceae, swampy broad-leaved trees ( Nyssa , Alnus , Myrica ), monocotyledons (palms, Zingiberaceae, Stratiotes ) and ferns. Riparian forest included Taxodium , hygrophilous deciduous broad-leaved woody dicotyledons ( Ulmus , Alnus , Fraxinus , Acer ), various lianas and a few mesophytic elements ( Parrotia , Zelkova , Podocarpium ). Crystalline uplands were covered by mixed forest of acidic soils with Pinus , Myrica , Comptonia , Trigonobalanopsis , Lauraceae. The palaeoclimate can be characterized as optimal warm-temperate, very humid, perhaps with a lower humidity during the winter.

Summary A new record of a cone-bearing twig of Tetraclinis brachyodon (B rongniart ) M ai et W alther from the Middle Miocene locality Radoboj, Croatia is presented. Taxonomical and stratigraphical implications of fossil Tetraclinis are discussed.

Limnobiophyllum Krassilov includes fossil free-floating stoloniferous plants each with one or two sessile suborbicular to reniform leaves of different size as well as numerous simple and one or two longerbranched roots on a reduced main stem. The venation consists of campylodromous curved primaries, up to 14 in number, among which irregular reticulate veins of higher orders can be preserved. There are no signs of lateral pouches characteristic of the Lemnaceae. However, aerenchyma and pigment cells are well developed in Limnobiophyllum . Two species are recognized - Limnobiophyllum scutatum (Dawson) Krassilov (latest Cretaceous to Oligocene of western North America and Palaeocene of East Asia) and Limnobiophyllum expansum (Heer) Kvacek, comb. n. (Miocene of Europe). Turion-like bodies are associated with L. scutatum . No fruits have been found in connection, but numerous isolated ribbed seeds are associated with L. expansum . They resemble some Araceae and also Lemna L. and Spirodela Schleid. Such seeds are known as Lemnospermum Nikitin from the Tertiary of Eurasia. Limnobiophyllum resembles in some respects Spirodela , but it is larger and the roots and the habit are more like young plants of Pistia L. (Araceae). It differs from Hydromystria Mey. (i.e. Limnobium Rich.) by venation, root system and habit; the Lemnaceae, although similar, differ by lateral pouches of leafy fronds and the lack of branched roots and higher-order veins. Limnobiophyllum is considered as an extinct link related to Pistia (Araceae), from which Spirodela (Lemnaceae) may have evolved by reduction.

The structure of enigmatic plant remains designated here as Nemejcia eocenica Knobloch and Kvacek, form-gen. et sp. nov. from the Upper Eocene of western Bohemia (Czech Republic) are presented to permit wider discussion of their possible affinities. These axes with verticillate bracts (?leaves) recall sphenophytes, but in exceptional cases a simple row of disc-shaped, vertically orientated bodies (fruits?) occur within the bracts. Hence, a kind of angiosperm infructescence that is mostly devoid of fruits, or stems that are occasionally fertile, can be inferred.

Documented changes in the composition of the vegetation of Central Europe during the Late Cretaceous and Palaeogene are compared with those for other parts of the Northern Hemisphere in order to test the validity of the supposed global bioevents at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) and Eocene-Oligocene boundaries. Many heterosporous plant species, known mainly from megaspores, became extinct by the end of the Cretaceous. Most of the plants with which the enigmatic “mesofossils” Spermatites and Costatheca were associated also disappeared towards the end of this period. On the other hand, the angiosperms seem to have evolved without significant interruption at either the K/T or the Eocene-Oligocene transitions. Although there were many extinctions during the Late Cretaceous among certain groups, the plants concerned appear to have been continually replaced by other taxa. Recent studies of fruit and seed assemblages from Central and Western Europe have revealed 270 species of angiosperms and some conifers belonging to 28 families. Of the 13 genera recovered from Maastrichtian deposits, 11 occur in the Palaeocene and are partly represented by the same species. Although the vegetation may have been damaged by the kinds of catastrophic events that are suggested to have taken place at the K/T boundary, such as a bolide impact or an episode of major volcanism, the effects are likely to have been only temporary (a few years) and not necessarily on a global scale. Overall, the palaeobotanical evidence suggests that there were continuous rather than abrupt changes in the composition and physiognomy of the vegetation throughout the Late Cretaceous and Early Tertiary. The changes that took place during the Eocene and Oligocene correspond to stepwise climatic deteriotation. The uppermost Eocene-lowermost Oligocene transition was connected with subhumid to semi-arid summer seasons which resulted in the disintegration of forest cover and increased migration of terrestrial vertebrates. A lowering of mean January temperatures during the Oligocene led to the “withdrawal” or extinction of some palaeotropical elements and immigration of deciduous trees into Central Europe in several waves, the most pronounced of which was in the middle Oligocene.

An extensive corpus of semi-quantitatively described geobotanical analyses from the early Miocene of north Bohemia has been examined by parametrical and non-parametrical multivariate statistical methods. The results of these analyses have been compared with traditional geobotanical interpretations that are based on uniformitarian assumptions. The statistical analyses show that there are patterns of relationships inherent in the raw geobotanical analyses that are very similar to the traditional interpretations; but the statistical analyses define seventeen groups where tradition recognises eight. The objective picture from the statistical study, however, throws a fresh perspective on the familiar evidence and implies that montane, colline, and riparian forest associations—often sub-divided on edaphic lines-can be recognised in addition to the lowland marsh ecologies implicit in a major brown coal deposit. The present-day ecological patterns recognisable in ecosystems more than twenty million years old suggest that most of the components retained their ecological preferences throughout this time. The statistical analyses offer fresh insights into aspects of the processes transporting the specimens to their place of burial. The success of the statistical analyses indicates that the methods used are potentially capable of identifying ecological associations in older geological systems.