DOI

  • Natalia P. Maslova
  • Aleksandra B. Sokolova
  • Tatiana M. Kodrul
  • Anna Tobias
  • Natalia Bazhenova
  • Xin-Kai Wu
  • Jian-Hua Jin

The unique co-occurrence of thyriothecia belonging to three fossil genera of epiphyllous fungi,StomiopeltitesAlvin & Muir (Micropeltidaceae),CallimothallusDilcher, andTrichothyritesRosendahl (Microthyriaceae), are reported on the leaves of the same host plant,Cunninghamia shangcunicaKodrul, Gordenko & Sokolova from the Oligocene Shangcun Formation of the Maoming Basin, South China. In China,Stomiopeltitesis identified for the first time,Callimothallusis known from the Oligocene and Miocene of Guangxi and Zhejiang provinces, andTrichothyritespreviously has been found only in the Eocene palynological assemblages of the Maoming Basin. The presence of abundant and diverse epiphyllous micromycetes, together with the taxonomic composition of the Shangcun megaflora and pollen assemblage, as well as quantitative climatic estimates obtained using Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program, confirm the existence of a warm and humid climate in this region during the late early Oligocene. The geographic and stratigraphic distributions, comparisons with extant analogues, as well as ecological and paleoclimatic implications of the fossil fungi are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)964-984
Number of pages21
JournalJournal of Systematics and Evolution
Volume59
Issue number5
Early online date8 Aug 2020
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2021

    Research areas

  • Ascomycota, host plant, Micropeltidaceae, Microthyriaceae, paleoecology, thyriothecia

    Scopus subject areas

  • Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Plant Science

ID: 71419102