| Abstract Detail
Paleobotanical Section Taylor, Witt [1]. Cyclocarya and its significance to the diversification of Juglandaceae. The Juglandaceae has one of the best documented fossil records in the Northern Hemisphere, with fruits and flowers first known from Late Cretaceous sites in eastern North America and Europe. Among modern genera to be recognized, the earliest is Cyclocarya, known from the Late Paleocene of western North America. Initially included in the genus Pterocarya, Cyclocarya was established by Iljinskaya in 1953 for fruits with a conspicuous circular wing. Anatomically preserved fossil fruits from Almont that were attributed to the genus were described by Manchester and Dilcher in 1982, and several compression species followed. The oldest fossils come from the Late Paleocene of western North America, with Eurasian occurrences in the Oligocene. European and Asian occurences continue through the Pliocene, with European ones then dropping out and Asian ones remaining to the Recent. Our current study of new specimens of Cyclocarya includes infructescences from the original Almont site that show numerous attached fruits, and specimens from the Beicegel Creek locality that can be studied with cellulose acetate peels for highly detailed anatomy. The presence of juglandaceous leaves, catkins and pollen in the same matrix provides a tantalizing possibility for a detailed documentation of this early juglandaceous genus.
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1 - Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 874501, Tempe, Arizona, 85287-4501, USA
Keywords:
Cyclocarya
Juglandaceae
Biogeography
Paleocene
North Dakota
Almont.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: CP11
Location: Williford A/Hilton
Date: Monday, July 9th, 2007
Time: 11:00 AM
Number: CP11004
Abstract ID:2118 |
