Miocene Casuarinaceae wood from Landslip Hill, Southland, New Zealand

Abstract

ABSTRACTAngiosperm wood from the Miocene Landslip Hill silcrete, Southland, New Zealand is described. It is characterised by solitary vessels of two distinct size classes; rays of two size classes alongside aggregate rays; simple perforation plates; and axial parenchyma in tangential bands up to three cells wide. The wood has features similar to Casuarinaceae and is described here as a new species, Casuarinoxylon ildephonsi. The fossils were collected as isolated fragments of wood; there is no directly associated cladode or cone material although isolated fragments of these are common elsewhere in the Landslip Hill silcrete. This is the second record of fossil Casuarinaceae wood from New Zealand and the first sample to be anatomically described. Currently, Casuarinaceae does not occur in New Zealand. Casuarinoxylon ildephonsi would have grown in a warm temperate to subtropical climate on an open deltaic floodplain.