Fossil Alloceltidoxylon, Allonymphaea, Arecocaryon, Paralnoxylon and Paranyssa and extant Komaroviopsis, Marcanodendron, and Papyrocactus (Magnoliophyta), new replacement generic names

Eight new generic replacement names were validated. The new fossil wood generic name Alloceltidoxylon is validated to replace later homonym, Scottoxylon Wheeler & Manchester (non Scotoxylon Vogellehner). The new fossil generic name Allonymphaea is proposed to replace later homonym, Thiebaudia M. Chandler (non Thiebautia Colla nec Thibaudia Ruiz et Pavon ex Jaume St.-Hilaire), based on leaf remains. The new fossil generic name Arecocaryon, based on fruit remains, is proposed to replace the later homonym Friedemannia M.E. Collinson, Manchester& V. Wilde (non Friedmannia Chantanachat & Bold, Algae). The new fossil wood generic name Paralnoxylon is validated to replace later homonym, Cantia Stopes (non Kantia Pia). The new fossil generic name Paranyssa, based on fossil leaves, is validated to replace later homonym, Browniea Manchester & Hickey (non Brownea Jacquin). Three new generic names for extant flowering plants were validated: Komaroviopsis replaces Komarovia Korovin (non Komaroffia O. Kuntze) and Komaroviopsideae trib. nov. replaced invalid Komarovieae, Marcanodendron instead of Uladendron Marcano-Berti (non fossil Ulodendron Lindley & Hutton) and Papyrocactus replaces Toumeya Britton & Rose (non Tuomeya W.H. Harvey, Algae). The new combinations Alloceltidoxylon eocenicum, Allonymphaea rayaniensis, Arecocaryon messelense, Paralnoxylon arborescens, Paranyssa serrata, Komaroviopsis anisosperma, Marcanodendron codesuri, and Papyrocactus papyracanthus are proposed. Alloceltidoxylon, Allonymphaea, Arecocaryon, Komaroviopsis, Marcanodendron, Paralnoxylon, Paranyssa, Papyrocactus, new replacement generic names, Komaroviopsideae trib. nov.

New names for Ilex and Ilexpollenites (Aquifoliaceae), extant and fossil. Notulae Systematicae ad Palaeofloram Europaeam spectantes II. Aquifoliaceae

New names are proposed for the fossil European Tertiary species of Ilex (The Palaeoflora Europaea Project): Ilex angustifolioides nom. nov., Ilex boulayi nom. nov., Ilex friedrichii nom. nov., Ilex latifolioides nom. nov., and Ilex opacina nom. nov. Ilex integrifolia Baikovskaja from Central Asia is renamed Ilex aschutassica nom. nov. (non extant Ilex integrifolia Hort. ex Vilmorin and Ilex integrifolia Chapman ex Knowlton). Ilex mormonica nom. nov. of North America is proposed in place of Ilex acuminata Becker (fossil) non Ilex acuminata Willdenow (extant). Ilex polarica nom. nov. from Greenland is validated in place of Ilex macrophylla Heer (fossil) non Ilex macrophylla Blume (extant). Ilex fortunensis Hahn (extant) is renamed Ilex hahnii nom. nov. (not fossil Ilex fortunensis van der Burgh). Ilex subrotunda sp. nov. is validated instead of the previously invalidly published I. ohashii, lacking holotype designation when published. Fossil-species of Ilex, based on the dispersed pollen, Ilex major, I. colchiciformis, I. hyrcaniformis, I. macroclavata, I. tener, are transferred to the pollen fossil-genus Ilexpollenites. Fossil-species based on leaves, Ilex artocarpidioides and Ilex ovata are segregated into a separate genus Celastrilex gen. nov. Fossil-species Ilex pseudostenophylla, based on leaf remains, is excluded from Ilex and placed into a new fossil-genus Frangulops gen. nov. The following new combinations are proposed: Ilex ulmacea comb. nov., Ilexpollenites: Ilexpollenites major comb. nov., I. colchiciformis comb. nov., I. hyrcaniformis comb. nov., I. macroclavata comb. nov., I. tener comb. nov.; Celastrilex artocarpidioides, C. populifolia; Frangulops pseudostenophylla. Furthermore, Celastrus ulmaceus is neotypified; Ilex acuminata Saporta, I. berberidifolia, I. mougeotii and I. rueminiana are lectotypified.

New names in Aralia (Araliaceae), living and fossil

The nomenclature of some fossil and extant homonymic species of Aralia is resolved. Aralia laevis J. Wen (extant) is replaced by a new name A. indonesica nom. nov., because of earlier homonym, A. laevis E.M.Reid (fossil). Aralia debilis J. Wen is rehabilitated as a legitimate substitute to the later homonym, A. elegans Ho, due to the existence of several earlier homonyms, the extant A. elegans Linden ex Koch, A. elegans Cunn. ex W.Hill and A. elegans Hort. ex Saporta, and the fossil A. elegans Velenovský. Additional four new replacement names are proposed for fossil species based on endocarp remains from the Miocene sediments of Siberia: Aralia asiatica nom. nov. for A. rugosa Dorofeev non Blume, A. mammuthica nom. nov. for A. dubia V.P. Nikitin non Sprengel nec Fontaine, A. borealis nom. nov. for A. tertiaria Dorofeev non Pilar, and A. tobolica nom. nov. for A. lucida Dorofeev non Hasskarl. The later homonym A. angustiloba Kolakovsky non Lesquereux, based on the fossil foliage from the Pliocene sediments of Transcaucasus, is transferred into Brassaiopsis as B. kolakovskyana nom. nov. Fossil species A. furcata, described on the basis of leaf remains from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Bohemia, is transferred into Haliserites as H. furcatus comb. nov. The fossil later homonym A. serrata Knowlton non Saporta, described on the basis of leaf remains from the Palaeocene of North America, is transferred into Platanus as P. serrata nom. nov.

A NEW LATE MIOCENE PLANT ASSEMBLAGE FROM MESSARA BASIN (CRETE, GREECE)

A rich terrigenous plant assemblage was recently excavated from early Tortonian deposits at Messara basin, southern Crete. The macro-remains are perfectly preserved as impressions or carbonized compressions in poorly lithified and locally laminated, blue-green clays with an age of at least 10.5 Ma and thus can be considered as the oldest plant assemblage found in Crete todate. Gymnosperms are represented by the families of Pinaceae (pine needles and winged seeds), Cupressaceae and Taxodiaceae (leafy twings of Taxodium). Besides, 19 different angiosperm taxa of trees and shrubs have been also determined. Fagaceae is the most diversified with foliage of beech and several deciduous and evergreen oaks, while Myricaceae contribute mainly as abundant leaf remains of Myrica lignitum. Accessory elements of evergreen Lauraceae (Daphnogene polymorpha), sclerophyllus shrubs of Buxaceae (Buxus pliocenica) and various deciduous dicotyledonous such as Populus crenata, Liquidambar europaea, Carya minor and Acer pseudomonspessulanum are well documented. Leguminosae is recorded by a significant number of various small leaflet imprints. Therefore, the recovered remains indicate swampy forest habitats dominated by hygrophilic woody plants of Taxodium and Myrica, while in the surrounding plains and slopes a mixed mesophytic forest with a relatively low proportion of evergreen plants occurred in early-Late Miocene times in Crete depicting a moderately humid, warm-temperate nature for the climate.

Late Oligocene macrofloras from fluviatile siliciclastic facies of the Köln Formation at the south-eastern border of the Lower Rhine Embayment (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany)

The leaf remains described herein came from the oldest sites of the Cainozoic deposits in the Lower Rhine Embayment, located in the Siebengebirge Volcanic Field at the south-eastern border of this basin, in the area of Siebengebirge and vicinity. These revisited floras are bound to pre-volcanic siliciclastic facies of the Siebengebirge Mts., interpreted as marginal facies of the Köln Formation. Chronostratigraphically they are assigned to the late Oligocene (Chattian). The described leaf remains are partially compressions with preserved epidermal anatomy, and therefore highly useful for systematic determination of leaf impressions recovered from other localities of siliciclastic facies. On account of the epidermal characteristics of leaf compressions varying in gross morphology, the previously determined taxa Quercus goepperti, Laurus phoeboides, and Persea speciosa all fall into the abundantly represented Eotrigonobalanus furcinervis. The siliciclastic deposits originated in coastal and flood plain areas within fluviatile environments of variable deposition energy. Remains of Taxodium dubium, Eotrigonobalanus furcinervis, Populus germanica, and Daphnogene cinnamomifolia dominate among the recovered fossils. The general aspects of this plant assemblage correspond, together with their sedimentary settings, to riparian forest vegetation with mesophytic elements.

Ocotea dilcherii, a new name for Ocotea obtusifolia (Berry) LaMotte (Lauraceae)

The fossil species Oreodaphne obtusifolia Berry (1916: 301) was described, based on the fossil leaf remains of the most abundant laurel from the Early Eocene Wilcox Group sediments of Holly Springs: Marshall Co, Grenada Co., Miss.: Mississippi embayment (Southeastern North America). Nowadays, most systematists consider the extant Oreodaphne to be a member of Ocotea (Mez, 1889: 219; Rohwer, 1986; van der Werff, 2002; Chanderbali et al., 2001). LaMotte (1952) transferred Berry’s (1916: 301) combination to Ocotea, and this transfer was followed by Dilcher (1963), who reinforced attribution of Wilcox leaf megafossils to Ocotea by cuticular analysis of epidermis and stomata (Dilcher & Lott, 2005). However, according to Art. 53.1 of the ICN (McNeill et al. 2012) the name Ocotea obtusifolia (Berry) LaMotte (1952) is illegitimate because of the existence of the earlier overlooked homonym, Ocotea obtusifolia Kunth (1817: 165–166), an extant lauraceous species from Colombia (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, holotype: http://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.P00128771). The homonymy between these fossil and extant American species of Ocotea was revealed during the description of the new fossil Early Oligocene species Ocotea rossica Vikulin from the south of the Middle-Russian upland (Vikulin, 2015: 326). Since Ocotea obtusifolia (Berry) LaMotte has been systematically recognized as a valid species in current use and it does not have any synonym, a nomen novum, O. dilcherii, is formally proposed here as a replaced name. Because a type specimen was not indicated among the validating illustrations of Berry (1916: pl. 80, fig. 1; pl. 83, fig. 2–5, and pl. 84, fig. 1 and 2), a lectotype must be designated here, from the specimens illustrated in the protologue (Berry, 1916: 301–302) amongst those perfect specimens with blunt leaf apex, which are very abundant in the clays at Puryear, Tenn. (Proposed lectotype: paleobotany collection # USNM 35867, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (USA), illustrated in Berry, 1916: 301, pl. 83, fig. 5.

Elaeocarpus sveshnikovae, a new name for the fossil-species Elaeocarpus microphyllus (Elaeocarpaceae)

The creation of the International Fossil Plant Names Index (IFPNI 2014 onwards, Doweld 2015) with listing of all fossil plant, algal and fungal species reveals the homonymy between fossil-species belonging to genus Elaeocarpus Linnaeus (1753: 515). The fossil-species Elaeocarpus microphyllus Budantsev & Sveshnikova (1964: 102) was described based on the leaf remains from the Tertiary (Oligocene) sediments near Svetlogorsk, Kaliningrad region, Russian Federation (former East Prussia). However, Elmer (1911) and independently Warburg (1922), proposed the earlier homonyms Elaeocarpus microphyllus Elmer (1911: 1189) and E. microphyllus Warburg (1922: 328) respectively, which were overlooked. According to Art. 53.1 of the ICN (McNeill et al. 2012), a junior fossil homonym, Elaeocarpus microphyllus Budants. & Sveshn. is illegitimate and hence a new name is proposed here. A new nomenclatural act was registered through a pilot registration version in the International Fossil Plant Names Index (IFPNI 2014 onwards), with unique persistent registration barcode (LSID) listed under each newly proposed fossil plant taxon.

Quercus rajushkinae, a new name for Quercus lavrovii Rajushkina (Fagaceae)

The fossil species Quercus lavrovii Rajushkina (1987: 146) was described on the fossil leaf remains of an oak from the Miocene sediments of Dzhungarian Aktau, Ili depression (Kazakhstan, Central Asia). However, according to Art. 53.1 of ICN (McNeill et al. 2012) this name is illegitimate because of the existence of an overlooked earlier homonym, Quercus lavrovii Budantsev (1955: 93) which was originally described from the earlier Oligocene deposits of Bestau, Turgay (Kazakhstan). The homonymy between these fossil species emerged during the creation of the International Fossil Plant Names Index, which is planned to list all fossil plant species (IFPNI 2014 onwards). Since the preoccupied species P. lavrovii Rajushk. is systematically recognized as a valid species in current use and it does not have any synonym, a nomen novum, Q. rajushkinae, is here formally proposed as a replaced name.