Early tertiary Tmesipteris (Psilotaceae) macrofossil from Tasmania

Abstract

The discovery of a fossil Tmesipteris specimen from the Late Eocene–Oligocene Cethana deposit is the first macrofossil record of the Psilotaceae. The specimen is represented by a portion of an areial shoot and is assigned to the new species, T. tasmanica. Extant species are virtually confined to ever-wet temperature and tropical montane rainforests of Australiasia, eastern Malesia and islands of the Pacific. The discovery therefore provides an identification that the Cethana deposit was surrounded by vegetation which grew in cool and humid conditions.