Miocene winged fruits of Loxopterygium (Anacardiaceae) from the Ecuadorian Andes

Abstract

A new species of asymmetrically winged fruit is described from Miocene sediments of Andean Ecuador. The new fruit is readily placed in the genus Loxopterygium of the Anacardiaceae based on the size, position of the stigma, wing venation, and serration of the wing tip. The new fossil species is very similar to extant species of Loxopterygium now distributed in dry habitats of coastal Ecuador and Peru, as well as dry interior forests of Bolivia and northern Argentina. We use the fossil to calibrate a molecular-based phylogeny of some members of the Anacardiaceae, showing that dry forest habitats may have been present in South America for more than 10 million years.