Cupressus rhenana (KILPPER) MAI et VELITZELOS

Teodoridis, Vasilis, Kvaček, Zlatko, Sami, Marco, Utescher, Torsten & Martinetto, Edoardo, 2015, Palaeoenvironmental Analysis Of The Messinian Macrofossil Floras Of Tossignano And Monte Tondo (Vena Del Gesso Basin, Romagna Apennines, Northern Italy), Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae Series B 71 (3 - 4), pp. 249-292 : 254

Cupressus rhenana (KILPPER) MAI et VELITZELOS

Pl. 1, Fig. 17; Pl. 2, Fig. 1

Leafy shoot regularly alternately branched, up to 50 mm long, covered with ovate-rhomboidal, acuminate, homomorphic decussate scale-like leaves not exceeded 1 mm in length. Orbiculate seed cone is 7 mm in diameter and composed of 8 decussate cone scales. Similar foliage and seed cone have been found at the late Miocene site Vegora, Greece ( Kvaček et al. 2002). Furthermore, even if the occurrence of Cupressus cf. sempervirens LINNAEUS indicated by Kovar-Eder et al. (2006) from the late Messinian site of Scipione Ponte (northern Italy) is referred to cones, these are associated with so far undescribed leafy shoots which are identical to those of Monte Tondo. We also revise here the material from Scipione Ponte (Cenofita Collection, University of Turin, Nr. CCN1470) as Cupressus rhenana , because the use of this fossil-species name is preferable in the absence of definite evidence proving that the fossils correspond in all characters to the modern species Cupressus sempervirens , and not to other closely related species.

M a t e r i a l. Leafy shoots (Monte Tondo MSF1551, MSF1552, MSF1553, MSF1554, MSF1556) and seed cone (Tossignano MSF1555).