Nothofagus kiandrensis (Nothofagaceae subgenus Brassospora), a new macrofossil leaf species from Miocene sediments at Kiandra, New South Wales

Abstract

Nothofagus subgenus Brassospora is now confined to New Guinea and New Caledonia. Despite an impressive and highly diverse south-eastern Australian fossil pollen record for the subgenus (from Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene sediments), macrofossil finds have been rare and restricted to Tasmanian sites. Until now, only two subgenus Brassospora leaf species, N. serrata and N. mucronata (Early Oligocene, Little Rapid River, Tasmania) have been described. Nothofagus kiandrensis, from Early Miocene sediments at Kiandra NSW, is the first reported leaf species of subgenus Brassospora from mainland Australia.