New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts

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Miocene casuarinacean fossils from Southland and Central Otago, New Zealand

J. D. CAMPBELL

Department of Geology
University of Otago
P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand

A. M. HOLDEN

Department of Geology
Victoria University of Wellington
Private Bag, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract Abundant undistorted specimens of casuarinacean "cones" (infructescences) assignable to the genus Casuarina L. ex Adan occur in Dun- troonian to Waitakian (Late Oligocene to Early Miocene) quartz arenite at Landslip Hill, near Gore, Southland. Some aspects of "cone" morphology suggest affinity with Gymnostoma L. A. S. John- son, 1980. Casuarinacean stems and compressed "cones" also occur in comparative abundance in thin-bedded siltstones of the Manuherikia Group (Early to Mid-Miocene) at several localities near Bannockburn, Central Otago. They are not con- specific with those from Landslip Hill and proba- bly belong to a different genus. Casuarina stellata sp. nov. from Landslip Hill and Casuarina aven- acea sp. nov. from Bannockburn are described. The "cones" show the existence of a casuarinacean (she- oak) forest or scrub element in the Mid-Tertiary vegetation of Southland and Central Otago. They confirm a long-held notion, based on pollen evi- dence, that Casuarinaceae lived in New Zealand in Tertiary times. The presence of probable Gymnos- toma is interesting. The genus is mainly tropical at the present-day with most species being found in New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea.

Keywords Casuarinaceae; fossil; cones; Miocene; New Zealand; Gymnostoma; Casuarina

Received 31 August 1983; accepted 14 October 1983
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 1984, Vol. 22: 159-167
0028-825X/84/2201-0159$2.50/0 © Crown copyright 1984

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