The first fossil seed of Ampelopsis (Vitaceae) in South China

Abstract

AmpelopsisMichx. (Vitaceae) contains more than 30 species and is discontinuously distributed in Eurasia, North America, and Central America. China hosts an abundance ofAmpelopsisspecies. Until now, fossil records ofAmpelopsishave been reported only from the Paleocene to the Pleistocene of Europe, the Eocene to the Pliocene of Asia, and the Eocene to the Miocene of North America. AlthoughAmpelopsisis abundant and widespread in China today, no fossils ofAmpelopsishave so far been found there, except for fossil seed from the Upper Miocene of Yunnan. In this study, a fossil seed ofAmpelopsis japonica(Thunb.) Makino was recovered from the Upper Pleistocene of the Maoming Basin, Guangdong province. It is the firstAmpelopsisfossil found in South China. This finding shows thatAmpelopsiswas distributed in the low latitudes of South China in the Late Pleistocene. Global cooling during the last glaciation might have led to the southward spread of the genus to the low-latitude areas of South China. According to the structural characteristics of our fossil, it is speculated that the aborted ovule, which is common in the fruits of extantAmpelopsis, existed in this genus in the Late Pleistocene.