AUTHOR=Xiang Helanlin , Wu Xinkai , Liu Xiaoyan , Xu Shenglan , Jin Jianhua , Huang Luliang 

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

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2023.1130586

DOI=10.3389/fevo.2023.1130586

ISSN=2296-701X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Ampelopsis</italic> Michx. (Vitaceae) contains more than 30 species and is discontinuously distributed in Eurasia, North America, and Central America. China hosts an abundance of <italic>Ampelopsis</italic> species. Until now, fossil records of <italic>Ampelopsis</italic> have 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. Although <italic>Ampelopsis</italic> is abundant and widespread in China today, no fossils of <italic>Ampelopsis</italic> have so far been found there, except for fossil seed from the Upper Miocene of Yunnan. In this study, a fossil seed of <italic>Ampelopsis japonica</italic> (Thunb.) Makino was recovered from the Upper Pleistocene of the Maoming Basin, Guangdong province. It is the first <italic>Ampelopsis</italic> fossil found in South China. This finding shows that <italic>Ampelopsis</italic> was 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 extant <italic>Ampelopsis</italic>, existed in this genus in the Late Pleistocene.</p>