Late Miocene wood flora associated with the Yuanmou hominoid fauna from Yunnan, southwestern China and its palaeoenvironmental implication
Ye-Ming Cheng1, *, Yu-Fei Wang2, Cheng-Sen Li2, *
1. The Geological Museum of China, Xisi, Xicheng District, Beijing 100034, China; 2. State Key Laboratory of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiangshan, Haidian District, Beijing, 100093, China
Abstract The Upper Miocene Xiaohe Formation of the Yuanmou Basin in Yunnan Province, southwestern China, is famous for its hominoid fauna and is important for studying the Late Cenozoic human and mammal evolution. Abundant fossil wood was found associated with this fauna, which provided important evidence for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of the basin. Among the fossil wood, two different taxa have been identified namely, Quercoxylon sp. (Fagaceae) and Pterocarya sp. (Juglandaceae). Based on the habitats of their Nearest Living Relatives (NRLs), it is suggested that upland subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest dominated by Quercus/Lithocarpus was common around the basin, while a lowland deciduous broad-leaved forest dominated by Pterocarya was present on the river bank of the basin during the Late Miocene.
Fund:The authors are thankful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31170206), the National Financial Fund of China (Project ��collection and purchase of specimen of Geological heritage��, No. 1211311381001), and National International Science and Technology Cooperation Program (2009DFA32210). We thank Mehrotra, R. C. of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, India, for improving an earlier version of the manuscript.
Ye-Ming Cheng,Yu-Fei Wang,Cheng-Sen Li. Late Miocene wood flora associated with the Yuanmou hominoid fauna from Yunnan, southwestern China and its palaeoenvironmental implication[J]. , 2014, 3(2): 323-330.
Ye-Ming Cheng,Yu-Fei Wang,Cheng-Sen Li. Late Miocene wood flora associated with the Yuanmou hominoid fauna from Yunnan, southwestern China and its palaeoenvironmental implication[J]. Journal of Palaeogeography, 2014, 3(2): 323-330.
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