Fossil Fruits of <i>Ceratophyllum</i> from the Upper Eocene and Miocene of South China
Shenglan Xu,
Hanzhang Song,
Helanlin Xiang,
Weiqiu Liu,
Cheng Quan,
Jianhua Jin
Affiliations
Shenglan Xu
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences/School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Hanzhang Song
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences/School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Helanlin Xiang
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences/School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Weiqiu Liu
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences/School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Cheng Quan
School of Earth Science and Resources, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710065, China
Jianhua Jin
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences/School of Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Ceratophyllum L. is a cosmopolitan genus of perennial aquatic herbs that occur in quiet freshwaters. Fossils of this genus have been widely reported from the Northern Hemisphere, most of them occurring in the temperate zone. Here, we describe two species of fossil fruits discovered from subtropical areas of China. The fossil fruit discovered from the upper Eocene Huangniuling Formation of the Maoming Basin is designated as C. cf. muricatum Chamisso, and fruits discovered from the Miocene Erzitang Formation of the Guiping Basin are assigned to the extant species C. demersum L. The discovery of these two fossil species indicates that Ceratophyllum had spread to South China by the late Eocene and their distribution expanded in subtropical China during the Miocene.
