Sprecher
Beschreibung
The late middle Eocene, subpolar flora from Anglesea (Victoria) is a uniquely informative paleobotanical assemblage from terminal Gondwanan Australia, yet much of its diversity remains undescribed. Using light, fluorescence, and confocal microscopy, we re-examined Anglesea legacy collections (>2,000 organically preserved leaves and corresponding cuticle slides) housed at the Melbourne Museum and report four new angiosperm families in the flora: Dilleniaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Monimiaceae, and Atherospermataceae; and one new conifer genus, Acmopyle (Podocarpaceae). The Dilleniaceae leaves have random reticulate tertiaries, glandular teeth, and brachyparacytic stomata, placing them in the Neotropical subfamily Doliocarpoideae. Euphorbiaceae are represented by one peltate leaf with teeth, disc-shaped scales, and sunken cyclocytic stomata, similar to the Old-World genus Macaranga. The Monimiaceae fossils have festooned semicraspedodromous secondaries, irregular glandular teeth, and brachyparacytic stomata, comparable to the Australasian genera Hedycarya and Wilkiea. The Atherospermataceae leaves have festooned semicraspedodromous secondaries and gland-tipped teeth; we recognize three new species: one of the Australian endemic Doryphora, with striated cuticle and stephanocytic stomata; one of Laurelia (New Zealand and southern South America), with strong secondary loops and stephanocytic bicyclic stomata; and one of an extinct genus, with irregular teeth and papillate cuticle. The tropical rainforest podocarp Acmopyle is represented by one leafy branch with bilaterally flattened leaves bearing hypoplastic stomata. Additionally, we observed accessory transfusion tissue in Podocarpus platyphyllum, providing direct anatomical evidence for an ever-wet ecosystem. These discoveries expand the diversity and biogeographic connections of the Anglesea flora and Paleogene Australia, emphasizing the conservation value of extant rainforests that preserve Gondwanan survivor lineages.