New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts
Late Oligocene-Early Miocene leaf macrofossils confirm a long
history of Agathis in New Zealand
Daphne E. Lee
Department of Geology
University of Otago
PO Box 56
Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Jennifer M. Bannister
Department of Botany
University of Otago
PO Box 56
Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Jon K. Lindqvist
Department of Geology
University of Otago
PO Box 56
Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Abstract The antiquity of lineages in the extant indigenous
flora of New Zealand is controversial, and plant macrofossils provide
important evidence for testing hypotheses for in situ survival
of ancient lineages or their geologically recent arrival by
long-distance dispersal. Cuticle analysis of organically preserved leaf
fossils confirms the presence of Agathis in New Zealand since
at least the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene. Well-preserved Agathis
foliage occurs in a leaf litter bed within a thick seam of resiniferous
lignite in the middle Gore Lignite Measures, Newvale Mine, Waimumu,
Southland. The Agathis leaf fossils have some affinities with
extant Agathis australis.
Keywords leaf macrofossils; cuticle; pollen; Late
Oligocene-Early Miocene; lignite; paleoecology; Newvale Mine;
Southland; New Zealand
B07022 ; Online publication date 19 November 2007; Received 2 July
2007; accepted 8 October 2007
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 2007, Vol. 45: 565–578
0028–825X/07/4504–0565 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2007
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