Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hanzhang Song, Luliang Huang, Helanlin Xiang, Cheng Quan, Jianhua Jin
Summary: This study reports the discovery of Engelhardia fossil winged fruits with detailed anatomical structures from the Miocene Erzitang Formation of Guangxi, South China, suggesting that Engelhardia had reached its modern distribution during the Miocene. The unique anatomical and morphological features of the new fossils clearly distinguish them from other fossil genera and show unambiguously their attribution to the genus Engelhardia.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yixiong Wen, Laiming Zhang, Ann E. Holbourn, Chenguang Zhu, Katharine W. Huntington, Tianjie Jin, Yalin Li, Chengshan Wang
Summary: During the Late Miocene, as the oceans cooled significantly, there was enhanced aridification and restructuring of vegetation and animal communities in vast areas of continents. Debate continues over whether global cooling induced by pCO(2) was the primary driver of this climate and ecosystem upheaval on land. This study presents a record of land surface temperatures (LST) in East Asia from 8 to 5 Ma using paleosol carbonate clumped isotopes and climate model simulations, showing a cooling of LST by approximately 7 degrees C between 7.5 and 5.7 Ma, followed by rapid warming across the Miocene-Pliocene transition (5.5 to 5 Ma). These changes occurred simultaneously with variations in sea surface temperatures, hydroclimate, and ecosystem shifts in East Asia, indicating a global climate forcing mechanism. Modeling experiments also demonstrate that pCO(2)-forced cooling would have caused extensive aridification in East Asia by altering moisture transfer and pathways. Thus, the conclusion is that the hydroclimate and ecosystem shift in East Asia during 8 to 5 Ma were primarily controlled by pCO(2)-forced global cooling.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Li-Li Lu, Yi-Feng Yao, Guo-An Wang, Gan Xie, Kai-Qing Lu, Bin Sun, Jin-Feng Li, Angela A. Bruch, David K. Ferguson, Yi-Ming Cui, Qiang Wang, Xin-Ying Zhou, Feng Gao, Yu-Fei Wang
Summary: By analyzing paleobotanical evidence and multidisciplinary data, we found that vegetation shifts in East Africa may have stimulated the emergence of human bipedalism, while the stable living conditions of the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau acted as a refuge for arboreal primates, preventing further evolution.
Article
Plant Sciences
Fernanda Moreira Gianasi, Rubens Manoel Dos Santos
Summary: A new species of Pseudobombax, morphologically similar to Pseudobombax simplicifolium, is described from Furados, Caatingas Domain, Brazil. The new species differs in leaflet shape, presence of branched trichomes, and seed characteristics.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bo Wang, Gongle Shi, Chunpeng Xu, Robert A. Spicer, Vincent Perrichot, Alexander R. Schmidt, Kathrin Feldberg, Jochen Heinrichs, Cedric Cheny, Hong Pang, Xingyue Liu, Taiping Gao, Zixi Wang, Adam Slipinski, Monica M. Solorzano-Kraemer, Sam W. Heads, M. Jared Thomas, Eva-Maria Sadowski, Jacek Szwedo, Dany Azar, Andre Nel, Ye Liu, Jun Chen, Qi Zhang, Qingqing Zhang, Cihang Luo, Tingting Yu, Daran Zheng, Haichun Zhang, Michael S. Engel
Summary: A study reported a rich middle Miocene rainforest biome preserved in amber, indicating that the rainforest during this period was more widespread than previously estimated and likely had a significant impact on the evolution of Asian biota.
Article
Geography, Physical
Zhengchuang Hui, Xuewen Zhou, Manuel Chevalier, Xiao Wei, Yanfang Pan, Yingyong Chen
Summary: A new quantitative record of East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) precipitation during the Miocene was presented using the Bayesian approach, revealing a period of stable precipitation followed by a decreasing trend, and then a significant increase around 7.4 million years ago. The gradual decrease in EASM precipitation was primarily influenced by global cooling, while the significant increase was related to the late Miocene uplift of the Tibetan Plateau.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Xu Sheng-Lan, Tatiana M. Kodrul, Wu Yan, Natalia P. Maslova, Jin Jian-Hua
Summary: The genus Burretiodendron, currently endemic to an area near the China-Vietnam border and the limestone mountains of Thailand and Myanmar, has one of its earliest fossil records discovered in the lower Oligocene Shangcun Formation of the Maoming Basin in Guangdong, South China. This finding supports the inference that the genus originated in South China and suggests the presence of limestone mountains around the Maoming Basin in the early Oligocene.
JOURNAL OF SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Cheng-Sheng Li, Xiao-Rui Chi, Xin-Qiang Guo, Long Wang
Summary: Artemisia calcicola, a new species from Guizhou province in southwestern China, is described and illustrated in this study. It belongs to the subgenus Artemisia and can be distinguished by its leaf morphology and involucre characteristics. It bears some resemblance to A. annua but differs in several key features including plant duration and indumentum.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
He Zhang, Jiqi Lu, Shiyi Tang, Zhipang Huang, Liangwei Cui, Daoying Lan, Haitao Wang, Rong Hou, Wen Xiao, Songtao Guo, Gang He, Kang Huang, Pei Zhang, Hao Pan, Charles Oxnard, Ruliang Pan, Baoguo Li
Summary: This study aims to investigate the evolutionary history of primates in East Asia and provide evidence for conservation strategies. The results show that during the Pleistocene, primates spread from west to east, but their populations significantly decreased from the ancient to modern Holocene, resulting in a loss of biodiversity in East Asia. Except for Taiwan and Japan, primates in East Asia will eventually be limited to a Convergence-Divergence Center in Southwest China.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jia-hua Cai, Yu-min Shui, Xiao-fei Song, Lei Wu
Summary: The name Spiradiclis elliptica Y.M.Shui & W.H.Chen is validly published in this article, following the guidelines of ICN Article 39.1. Detailed morphological characteristics and an illustration are provided for taxonomic identification. This new species is distinguished by its persistent stipules, which are ovate to ovate-oblong and 7-10 mm long, as well as oblong to ovate-oblong, white or sometimes pink bracts with rounded apices. The conservation status of this species is assessed as Least Concern (LC) according to the IUCN Red List categories and criteria.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yifan Xiao, Noritoshi Suzuki, Tsuyoshi Ito, Weihong He
Summary: This study identifies morphological gaps between the important Permian radiolarian genera Pseudoalbaillella and Follicucullus, with the genus Longtanella bridging these gaps. New Longtanella species are described from South China, along with a new genus, Parafollicucullinoides. Correspondence analysis suggests different paleogeographic distributions and living environments for these genera, with Longtanella associated with warmer conditions and Pseudoalbaillella and Follicucullus group preferring open ocean conditions.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Dermatology
Christos C. Zouboulis, Mankul Goyal, Angel S. Byrd
Summary: Hidradenitis suppurativa in South-East Asia and East Asia exhibits distinct clinical, environmental, physiological, and likely genetic differences compared to the Western region, with a male predominance, varying affected areas, and common metabolic comorbidities. Further studies on Asian ethnic subgroups are warranted.
EXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Wenjing Ding, Dujie Hou, Jun Gan, Ziming Zhang, Simon C. George
Summary: This study investigated aromatic hydrocarbons in the late Miocene-early Pliocene strata of the Yinggehai Basin in the South China Sea. The results showed a decrease in the relative abundance of terrigenous organic matter and a larger contribution from gymnosperms during the early Pliocene compared to the late Miocene. Additionally, the study found evidence of increased wildfires and a cooling climate during this period.
MARINE AND PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Ying Qin, Wei Ning Tan, Liu Juan Luo, Yan Liu
Summary: Cleisostoma mulunense, a new Orchidaceae species from Mulun National Nature Reserve in Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated. It closely resembles C. menghaiense, but can be distinguished by its yellowish green to yellow flowers with purplish brown coloration, oblong petals, and lip median lobe with 2 basal backward triangular lobules.
Article
Plant Sciences
Zi-Bing Xin, Wei-Chuen Chou, Stephen Maciejewski, Long-Fei Fu, Fang Wen
Summary: Primulina papillosa is a new species found in limestone areas of Guangxi, China, morphologically similar to two other species but distinguishable by its densely papillose-hispid leaf blades. With only one population found at the type locality with less than 200 individuals, this new species is provisionally assessed as Critically Endangered.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Yong-Jiang Huang, Hai Zhu, Jin-Jin Hu, Lin-Bo Jia, Zhe-Kun Zhou
Summary: This study reports the discovery of fossil endocarps of Sambucus genus in the late Pliocene Heqing Basin in South China, suggesting an increase in diversity of Sambucus in this region during the late Pliocene. The distribution and diversification of Sambucus in South China are likely to be a recent event compared to Europe and North Asia, possibly due to the warmer climate in South China before the Pliocene.
PALAEOBIODIVERSITY AND PALAEOENVIRONMENTS
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Pieter A. Zuidema, Flurin Babst, Peter Groenendijk, Valerie Trouet, Abrham Abiyu, Rodolfo Acuna-Soto, Eduardo Adenesky-Filho, Raquel Alfaro-Sanchez, Jose Roberto Vieira Aragao, Gabriel Assis-Pereira, Xue Bai, Ana Carolina Barbosa, Giovanna Battipaglia, Hans Beeckman, Paulo Cesar Botosso, Tim Bradley, Achim Braeuning, Roel Brienen, Brendan M. Buckley, J. Julio Camarero, Ana Carvalho, Gregorio Ceccantini, Librado R. Centeno-Erguera, Julian Cerano-Paredes, Alvaro Agustin Chavez-Duran, Bruno Barcante Ladvocat Cintra, Malcolm K. Cleaveland, Camille Couralet, Rosanne D'Arrigo, Jorge Ignacio del Valle, Oliver Duenisch, Brian J. Enquist, Karin Esemann-Quadros, Zewdu Eshetu, Ze-Xin Fan, M. Eugenia Ferrero, Esther Fichtler, Claudia Fontana, Kainana S. Francisco, Aster Gebrekirstos, Emanuel Gloor, Daniela Granato-Souza, Kristof Haneca, Grant Logan Harley, Ingo Heinrich, Gerd Helle, Janet G. Inga, Mahmuda Islam, Yu-mei Jiang, Mark Kaib, Zakia Hassan Khamisi, Marcin Koprowski, Bart Kruijt, Eva Layme, Rik Leemans, A. Joshua Leffler, Claudio Sergio Lisi, Neil J. Loader, Giuliano Maselli Locosselli, Lidio Lopez, Maria Lopez-Hernandez, Jose Luis Penetra Cerveira Lousada, Hooz A. Mendivelso, Mulugeta Mokria, Valdinez Ribeiro Montoia, Eddy Moors, Cristina Nabais, Justine Ngoma, Francisco de Carvalho Nogueira Junior, Juliano Morales Oliveira, Gabriela Morais Olmedo, Mariana Alves Pagotto, Shankar Panthi, Gonzalo Perez-De-Lis, Darwin Pucha-Cofrep, Nathsuda Pumijumnong, Mizanur Rahman, Jorge Andres Ramirez, Edilson Jimmy Requena-Rojas, Adauto de Souza Ribeiro, Iain Robertson, Fidel Alejandro Roig, Ernesto Alonso Rubio-Camacho, Ute Sass-Klaassen, Jochen Schongart, Paul R. Sheppard, Franziska Slotta, James H. Speer, Matthew D. Therrell, Benjamin Toirambe, Mario Tomazello-Filho, Max C. A. Torbenson, Ramzi Touchan, Alejandro Venegas-Gonzalez, Ricardo Villalba, Jose Villanueva-Diaz, Royd Vinya, Mart Vlam, Tommy Wils, Zhe-Kun Zhou
Summary: According to a pantropical tree-ring network, dry-season climate variability is a primary driver of tropical tree growth. The study found that woody biomass growth increases with dry-season precipitation and decreases with dry-season maximum temperature. The strength of these dry-season climate responses varies among sites and is influenced by drier, hotter, and more climatically variable regions.
Article
Geography, Physical
Jian Huang, Robert A. Spicer, Shu-Feng Li, Jia Liu, Truong Van Do, Hung Ba Nguyen, Zhe-Kun Zhou, Tao Su
Summary: Recent detailed work on several Cenozoic plant megafossil sites has revealed the antiquity of the tropical Asian flora. This paper describes fossil plant assemblages from the Oligocene Dong Ho Formation in northern Vietnam. The plant fossils found belong to 38 species, including conifers and angiosperms mainly belonging to Fagaceae, Lauraceae, and Dipterocarpaceae, all with significant tropical Asian kinship. The fossil evidence suggests a long-term environmental, floristic, and vegetational stability in the Ha Long region since the Paleogene, which provided a source for populating the East Asian flora and vegetation.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Hung Ba Nguyen, Jian Huang, Truong Van Do, Lin-Bo Jia, Hoa Mai Thi Nguyen, Hung Dinh Doan, Shu-Feng Li, Zhe-Kun Zhou, Tao Su
Summary: The study reports a new fossil record of Mucuna found in the late Miocene sediments of the Yen Bai Basin in northern Vietnam, revealing a possible Asian origin of the genus and its presence and adaptation to the humid tropical climate of northern Vietnam since at least the late Miocene.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2022)
Biographical-Item
Paleontology
Gong-Le Shi, Yusheng (Christopher) Liu, Zhe-Kun Zhou
Editorial Material
Biodiversity Conservation
Tao Su, Robert A. Spicer, Zhe-Kun Zhou
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Lin-Bo Jia, Jin-Jin Hu, Shi-Tao Zhang, Tao Su, Robert A. Spicer, Jia Liu, Jiu-Cheng Yang, Pu Zou, Yong-Jiang Huang, Zhe-Kun Zhou
Summary: This article reports the discovery of three Bauhinia fossil species with cuticular preservation from the Paleogene of Puyang Basin, southwestern China, extending the emergence of Bauhinia in Asia to the late Eocene. It also shows that the diversification of Bauhinia in Asia and the phenomenon of a small region harboring multiple Bauhinia species in southwestern China can be traced back to the Paleogene.
Article
Geography, Physical
Mengxiao Wu, Jian Huang, Robert A. Spicer, Shufeng Li, Jiagang Zhao, Weiyudong Deng, Wenna Ding, He Tang, Yaowu Xing, Yimin Tian, Zhekun Zhou, Tao Su
Summary: This study provides insights into the paleoelevation and paleoclimate of the Lithe Basin on the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau during the early Oligocene. The results show that the basin had reached its present elevation at that time and experienced a humid subtropical climate. The findings also suggest that the appearance of the modern flora in this region began during the early Oligocene.
GLOBAL AND PLANETARY CHANGE
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Weiyudong Deng, Dario De Franceschi, Xiaoting Xu, Cedric Del Rio, Shook Ling Low, Zhekun Zhou, Robert A. Spicer, Lili Ren, Raoqiong Yang, Yimin Tian, Mengxiao Wu, Jiucheng Yang, Shuiqing Liang, Torsten Wappler, Tao Su
Summary: Cupressaceae fossil tree stumps from the Oligocene of southwestern China were found to contain abundant quartz-petrified damage traces, and the fossils also revealed arthropods and fungus, filling a gap in the fossil records for insect herbivory in this region. The disappearance of Taxodium supports the changes in the environment at that time.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Jiagang Zhao, Shufeng Li, Alexander Farnsworth, Paul J. Valdes, Tammo Reichgelt, Linlin Chen, Zhekun Zhou, Tao Su
Summary: The growth of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau during the Cenozoic period played a significant role in driving climate change in the region. Both temperature and precipitation showed an overall decline, with the growth of the plateau leading to a gradual decrease in temperature and precipitation in the northeastern part. This research provides insights into environmental change and ecosystem evolution during the Cenozoic period.
SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xinwen Zhang, Uriel Gelin, Robert A. Spicer, Feixiang Wu, Alexander Farnsworth, Peirong Chen, Cedric Del Rio, Shufeng Li, Jia Liu, Jian Huang, Teresa E. Spicer, Kyle W. Tomlinson, Paul J. Valdes, Xiaoting Xu, Shitao Zhang, Tao Deng, Zhekun Zhou, Tao Su
Summary: Spinescence is an important trait for plants to defend against mammalian herbivores. However, the evolution of spinescence remains poorly understood, with most studies focusing on modern ecosystems. Recently discovered well-preserved Eocene plant fossils in the central Tibetan Plateau reveal a diversity of spiny plants and rapid diversification during that time. Regional aridification and expansion of herbivorous mammals may have driven the diversification of spinescence in central Tibetan woodlands.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Zhekun Zhou, Jia Liu, Linlin Chen, Robert A. Spicer, Shufeng Li, Jian Huang, Shitao Zhang, Yongjiang Huang, Linbo Jia, Jinjin Hu, Tao Su
Summary: Plant fossils are crucial for understanding landscape evolution and plant diversity in the Tibetan Region. Recent studies have significantly improved our understanding of the formation of the Tibetan Plateau and its impact on climate and biota. These studies have also revealed numerous new plant fossil taxa, some of which represent the earliest records from Asia or even worldwide. Furthermore, plant fossils provide evidence of the asynchronous formation histories of different parts of the plateau, as well as the coevolution between vegetation, landform, and paleoenvironment.
SCIENCE CHINA-EARTH SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Hung Ba Nguyen, Jian Huang, Truong Van Do, Gaurav Srivastava, Hoa Mai Thi Nguyen, Shu-Feng Li, Lin-Lin Chen, Minh Trung Nguyen, Hung Dinh Doan, Zhe-Kun Zhou, Tao Su
Summary: The genus Albizia is one of the largest genera in the Fabaceae family and is ecologically, economically, and chemically important. A new species of Albizia fossil, named Albizia yenbaiensis, has been discovered in the late Miocene sediments of northern Vietnam, representing the first fossil record of Albizia in Southeast Asia. This finding suggests that Albizia already existed in a tropical broadleaved forest in northern Vietnam during the late Miocene and indicates its origin in the East Asian Monsoon region.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Mengxiao Wu, Jian Huang, Steven R. Manchester, He Tang, Yi Gao, Tengxiang Wang, Zhekun Zhou, Tao Su
Summary: A new fossil species of the Menispermaceae family has been discovered in southwestern China, suggesting that the divergence within the tribe Menispermeae might have occurred in the Late Eocene and a species similar to the modern Sinomenium acutum appeared in the region as early as in the Late Eocene.
REVIEW OF PALAEOBOTANY AND PALYNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Ai Song, Jia Liu, Shui-Qing Liang, Truong Van Do, Hung Ba Nguyen, Wei-Yu-Dong Deng, Lin -Bo Jia, Cedric Del Rio, Gaurav Srivastava, Zhuo Feng, Zhe-Kun Zhou, Jian Huang, Tao Su
Summary: Recent paleobotanical investigations in Vietnam have revealed a warm climate in northern Vietnam and nearby areas during the Oligocene. The studies also identified a new species of palm from this period.
