A new type of homoxylous Mesozoic wood from Asia, with palaeogeographical and palaeoecological implications

Changhwan Oh (1) , Marc Philippe (2) , Denise Pons (3) , Anais A Boura (3)

1 Division of Polar Earth-System Sciences
2 LGL-TPE - Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon - Terre, Planètes, Environnement
3 CR2P - Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie - Paris

A peculiar radial pitting type, mostly opposite to sub-opposite in long chains of square pits, is encountered while reviewing the Mesozoic fossil wood record from eastern Asia. It is called ‘japonicum-type’ of radial pitting in this study. Through the bibliographical surveys and a reappraisal of hundreds of specimens, in several collections, it was found out that the fossil woods with the japonicum-type of pittingwere constrained in time and space. We identified about one hundred occurrences, all of them restricted to eastern Asia (from Thailand to Japan) and to the Mid-Jurassic to Early Cretaceous interval. Those of these woods which were previously published, were identified as Agathoxylon, Protopodocarpoxylon or Brachyoxylon. However, we think these woods should be reunified in a new genus, characterized by this unique japonicum-type of radial-pitting.Its spatio-temporally limited distribution suggests that this morphogenus is probably an indicator for terrestrial biogeography and for palaeoclimatology.

Domaines: Botanique; Paléontologie; Biodiversité et Ecologie

Changhwan Oh, Marc Philippe, Denise Pons, Anais A Boura. A new type of homoxylous Mesozoic wood from Asia, with palaeogeographical and palaeoecological implications. The 10th East Eurasia International Workshop on present earth surface processes and long-term environmental changes in East Eurasia, 2013, Kwangju, South Korea. ⟨hal-03621432⟩