Two New Species of Eretmophyllum(Ginkgoales)from the Jurassic of Eastern Siberia

Two new species of Eretmophyllum Thomas are described from the lower(Toarcian)and upper(Aalenian)Prisayan Formation of the Irkutsk Basin,Eastern Siberia,Russia based on distinct morphological and cuticular features of the leaves that distinguish them from other species of the genus.Eretmophyllum polypapillosum sp.nov.is characterized by the presence of 2-3 papillae on the lower and upper epidermis of ordinary cells.Taphonomically,the leaf burials of E.polypapillosum sp.nov.indicate that it preferred mesophilic forests developed on river terraces and/or low watersheds.Eretmophyllum yershowskiensis sp.nov.is represented exclusively by leaf cuticles extracted by coal maceration,and it probably inhabited the low banks of peat bogs.The presence of the genus Eretmophyllum in the Early Jurassic of France and Eastern Siberia shows that it was already widespread in the territory of Eurasia,distributed from Western Europe to Eastern Siberia.This indicates the possible existence of Eretmophyllum species elsewhere in the Early Jurassic such as Central Asia and Northwest China.

On Cuticular Compressions of Glyptostrobus europaeus (Taxodiaceae) from Kaydagul Formation (Lower Miocene) of the Central Kazakhstan$V. L. Komarov Botanical Institute! Russian Academy of Sciences,St Petersburg 19737

Numerous leaf compressions of Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongn.) Ung. (Taxodiaceae) are found in Aquitanian (Lower Miocene) lignified clay localities Bolattam and Akzhar in the Southern Turgay, on the right bank of the Dulygaly-Zhilanshik river (Central Kazakhstan). The finely preserved lignified compression remains of leafy shoots make micro-morphological investigation feasible. Comparative studies of the epidermal features both living G. pensilis C. Koch and a new finding of G. europaeus from Early Miocene of Kazakhstan and illustrate their certain difference. The cuticular organization and epidermal features of fossil leaves, which have been compared with these of 'the nearest living relative', G. pensilis, were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy (LM). The fossil leaves of G. europaeus from Kazakhstan are distinguished by stronger, than in living species, G. pensilis, developed 'micro-papillae' ('Kristallucken'), visible in SEM as ring-like structures left on the outer surface of cuticle in both nonstomatal and stomatal zones.

A New Species of Rhodoleia(Hamamelidaceae) from the Upper Pliocene of West Yunnan, China and Comments on Phytogeography and Insect Herbivory

In Europe, fossil fruits and seeds of Rhodoleia（Hamamelidaceae） have been described from the Upper Cretaceous to the Miocene, whereas no fossil record of Rhodoleia has been reported in Asia, where the modern species occur.Herein, 21 fossil leaves identified as Rhodoleia tengchongensis sp.nov.are described from the Upper Pliocene of Tengchong County, Yunnan Province, Southwest China.The fossils exhibit elliptic lamina with entire margins, simple brochidodromous major secondary veins, mixed percurrent intercostal tertiary veins, and looped exterior tertiaries.The leaf cuticle is characterized by pentagonal or hexagonal cells, stellate multicellular trichomes, and paracytic stomata.The combination of leaf architecture and cuticular characteristics suggests that the fossil leaves should be classified into the genus Rhodoleia.The fossil distributions indicate that the genus Rhodoleia might originate from Central Europe, and that migrated to Asia prior to the Late Pliocene.Additionally, insect damage is investigated, and different types of damage, such as hole feeding, margin feeding, surface feeding, and galling, are observed on the thirteen fossil leaves.Based on the damage frequencies for the fossil and extant leaves, the specific feeding behavior of insects on Rhodoleia trees appears to have been established as early as the Late Pliocene.The high occurrence of Rhodoleia insect herbivory may attract the insect-foraging birds, thereby increasing the probability of pollination.

A new method to prepare clean cuticular membrane from fossil leaves with thin and fragile cuticles

Leaf cuticle analysis has long been a powerful tool for fossil plant identification, systematics, and palaeoclimatological recon- struction. In recent decades the application of stomatal frequency data that are relied on precise calculation of stomata on plant fossil cuticles to reconstruct ancient atmospheric CO2 concentration made the preparation of cuticular membrane with sufficient size a critical technique in palaeoclimatological research. However, for plants with originally thin and fragile cuticles, e.g., most deciduous plants, conventional techniques sometimes fail to obtain cuticular membranes with sufficient size, or sometimes unable to recover any. This has largely hampered the usage of fossil cuticle analysis in palaeobotanical and palaeo- climatological research. Here, we describe a new method using clear nail polish as a medium to ＂strengthen＂ the originally thin and fragile cuticles prior to maceration procedures. We demonstrate the method by using middle Eocene Metasequoia fossils that were notorious for the difficulty of recovering large-sized clean cuticular membranes due to their thin and fragile nature. Metasequoia, with well-documented and widely-distributed fossil records since the Late Cretaceous and with a living repre- sentative, 114. glyptostroboides, as a comparative reference, bas been widely used as a model genus for the study of evolution of plants, palaeoclimatological reconstruction, and plant adaptation to climate changes. But its deciduous habit produces thin cuticles and makes the preparation of clean cuticular membranes a tedious process. The new method successfully allows us to recover its delicate cuticular membranes with sufficient sizes for SEM observation and stomatal frequency analysis.