古生态研究组知识库

Dalbergia is a pantropical genus of Fabaceae with limited fossil records. In this study we describe diverse and well-preserved Dalbergia fossils distributed through Cenozoic (Eocene to Pliocene) strata in Yunnan Province, Southwest China. Comparison with newly collected modern samples from Eurasian forests and herbarium specimens allow accurate identification of our fossil materials, and we demonstrate that Yunnan Province represents an hitherto unrecognised hotspot for the diversification of Dalbergia. Our findings also include evidence of the earliest known mining damage reported on Dalbergia leaflets, which sheds light on their interactions with various arthropods (Leucoptera and other insects) during the early Neogene. As such, our results improve knowledge of Dalbergia fossils in East Asia and are crucial for understanding the evolutionary history of analogous mining behavior observed from modern Dalbergia.