Ilex geissertii sp. n. (Aquifoliaceae), a fossil ancestor of Ilex sect. Ilex in the upper Miocene and Pliocene of Europe
Abstract
Leaf remains of flex L sect. flex known from the Pliocene of Auenheim (Alsace, France) and Frankfurt a. M.
Niederrad (Hesse, Germany) as flex aff. cornuta Lindley fossilis Geissert and flex aquifolium L. fossilis Engelhardt, respectively, are re-interpreted as representing a new species Illex geissertii Kvacek, Teodoridis et Wang Qing, sp. nov. Similar leaf fossils occur also in the upper Miocene of the Netherlands (Brunssum), France (Murat), and the Pliocene of Italy (Valdarno Superiore).
Although these fossil records were considered either direct ancestors of I. aquifolium L (Near-East, Europe, N Africa) or allied to I. cornuta Lindley and Paxton (China and Korea), both the mentioned extant species differ in the leaf morphology. Close affinities of I. geissertii to several extant representatives of Illex subsect.
Ilex (= Oxyodontae Loesener nom. illegit.) are indisputable and stress a common origin of this group of the hollies known already from the Oligocene in Europe (Ilex castellii).