Sprecher
Beschreibung
The Plio–Pleistocene travertine flora from Dreveník (Slovakia) represents an important macrofloral assemblage across the Late Pliocene–Early Pleistocene transition. The Dreveník flora comprises a total of 37 taxa, including 35 plant species and two family-level taxa. Four gymnosperm species representing four genera and one family-level taxon were recognised in the studied material, including Ginkgo adiantoides (Unger) Heer, Torreya cf. nucifera Siebold & Zucc., Pinus sp. and Picea sp. The remaining 31 species belong to angiosperms and represent 24 genera together with one additional family-level taxon. The fossil taphocoenosis includes, among others, Cercidiphyllum crenatum (Unger) R.W.Br., Liquidambar europaea A.Braun, Cotoneaster sp., Zelkova zelkovifolia (Unger) Bůžek & Kotl., Ulmus cocchii C.T.Gaudin, Fagus haidingeri Kováts, Betula subpubescens (Göpp.) G.Worobiec, Populus tremula L., and Phillyrea aff. latifolia L.
Particularly significant is the occurrence of well-preserved acarodomatia in leaves assigned to Parrotia persica (DC.) C.A.Mey. Both pit- and pocket-type domatia are present in the axils of secondary veins and represent an important diagnostic feature supporting assignment of the material to the extant species rather than to morphologically similar genera of Hamamelidaceae. The studied material therefore contributes to the discussion of the taxonomic value of domatia in fossil Hamamelidaceae and to the distinction between Parrotia persica and the broadly interpreted fossil species Parrotia pristina (Ettingsh.) Stur. The Dreveník flora is important for its mixture of Neogene and extant taxa and represents one of the latest occurrences of typical Neogene taxa in the region.