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New Zealand Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene Macrofossil and Pollen Records and Modern Plant Distributions in the Southern Hemisphere

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Abstract

The modern New Zealand flora has a relatively low number of families and genera in relation to land area, but well-preserved macrofossils and pollen from three sites in southern New Zealand suggest that the floras in Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene times were much more diverse at the generic level. At Pikopiko, Southland, a late Eocene in situ forest with fern understory was dominated by conifers, Casuarinaceae, Lauraceae, Nothofagus, Proteaceae, and mesothermal angiosperms including palms (aff. Calamus), Sapindaceae: Cupaniae and Picrodendraceae. At Newvale Mine, Southland, a leaf bed within a thick lignite seam represents leaf fossils preserved in a late Oligocene oligotrophic bog. This site demonstrates that Agathis, Dacrycarpus, Dacrydium, Halocarpus, Microcachrys, Podocarpus and Phyllocladus coexisted with diverse angiosperms including Nothofagus, Gymnostoma, Cunoniaceae, Ericaceae, Sapindaceae and several Proteaceae. Pollen data add Meliaceae, Myrtaceae, Onagraceae and Rubiaceae to the flora. At Foulden Maar, Otago, mummified leaves and flowers, including several with in situ pollen, demonstrate the existence of a diverse flora surrounding an Early Miocene lake. This site contains numerous monocot macrofossils including Astelia, Cordyline, Ripogonum and Typha, as well as the oldest fossils known for Orchidaceae and Luzuriagaceae. This flora was dominated by Lauraceae with affinities to Cryptocarya and Litsea, but other families include Araliaceae, Cunoniaceae, Elaeocarpaceae, Euphorbiaceae sensu lato, Menispermaceae, Myrsinaceae, Myrtaceae, Onagraceae, Proteaceae and Sterculiaceae. Many ferns, conifers, and Nothofagus are from lineages with Gondwanan ancestors, whereas other taxa show links to Australia (e.g., Gyrostemonaceae), New Caledonia (e.g., Beauprea) and South America (e.g., Luzuriaga, Fuchsia). Many of these taxa are now extinct in New Zealand, and therefore indicate much wider biogeographic ranges for many families and genera in the past.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Maria Zamaloa, Maria Alejandra Gandalfo and colleagues for the invitation to speak at the VII Southern Connection conference in Bariloche, Argentina, and for inviting us to contribute a paper to this volume. We thank Mr. B. Highsted and Mr K. McLaren of Solid Energy for kindly allowing us access to Newvale Mine; and the Gibson family and Dr Darren Hughes, Featherston Resources Ltd for kindly allowing us access to the Foulden Maar fossil site. Ray Carpenter, Ellen Cieraad, David Ferguson, Aline Homes, Greg Jordan, Liz Kennedy, Bill Lee, Elizabeth Maciunas and Ian Raine provided information on various aspects of plant families, palynology and ecology. Liz Girvan is thanked for help with SEM work, Roger Tremain for preparing some palynological samples and Reinhard Zetter for the palynological SEM photographs. The Departments of Geology and Botany, University of Otago and the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Adelaide are thanked for the provision of resources to undertake this research. Funding for this study was provided by a Marsden Grant from the Royal Society of New Zealand.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Daphne E. Lee & Jon K. Lindqvist

  2. Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences DX 650 312, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia

    John G. Conran

  3. Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Jennifer M. Bannister

  4. GNS Science, PO Box 30368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

    Dallas C. Mildenhall

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  1. Daphne E. Lee
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  2. John G. Conran
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Correspondence to Daphne E. Lee.

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Lee, D.E., Conran, J.G., Lindqvist, J.K. et al. New Zealand Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene Macrofossil and Pollen Records and Modern Plant Distributions in the Southern Hemisphere. Bot. Rev. 78, 235–260 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12229-012-9102-7

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