北京植物研究所副研究員王祺博士在最近的研究中，基于中國,、日本,、格魯吉亞阿布哈茲和克羅地亞的小葉、葉和莢果化石材料的發(fā)現(xiàn)與研究,，進(jìn)一步確認(rèn)了中國和日本過去產(chǎn)自中新世（Miocene）至上新世（Pliocene）的葛藤屬葉化石Pueraria miothunberginana,，并首次報(bào)道了產(chǎn)自中國山東山旺中新世的葛屬莢果化石Pueraria shanwangensis。
相關(guān)論文發(fā)表在《美國植物學(xué)雜志》上（Wang Q, Manchester SR, Dilcher DL, 2010. Fruits and foliage of Pueraria (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae) from the Neogene of Eurasia and their biogeographic implications. American Journal of Botany 97 (12): 1982-1998）,。
圖：山東中中新世山旺組中的豆科莢果化石——山旺葛藤Pueraria shanwangensis,。比例尺２厘米。中新世（Miocene）為地質(zhì)年代新近紀(jì)的第一個(gè)時(shí)期,，距今2300萬年前到533萬年前,。
王祺和他的同事在該論文中還描述了產(chǎn)自阿布哈茲和克羅地亞中新世的葛屬小葉化石Pueraria maxima。
化石記錄表明,，葛屬在中新世就已經(jīng)散布到東亞（中國和日本）,、高加索山區(qū)以及巴爾干半島等地的溫帶和亞熱帶植物群中，葛屬目前在熱帶亞洲和大洋洲的高度多樣性可能反映了次生散布的結(jié)果,。
王祺等人提出,，歐洲東南部和高加索地區(qū)葛屬居群的消失是與中、上新世喜馬拉雅山-青藏高原隆起和古地中海的退卻,、亞洲內(nèi)陸荒漠化,、亞洲季風(fēng)系統(tǒng)的形成以及地中海的干旱化密切相關(guān)的。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
American Journal of Botany doi:10.3732/ajb.1000167
Fruits and foliage of Pueraria (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae) from the Neogene of Eurasia and their biogeographic implications1
Qi Wang2,3,6, Steven R. Manchester3,5 and David L. Dilcher4
ABSTRACT
Premise of the study: Pueraria (Leguminosae, Papilionoideae) is native in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania and is well known as a rampant invasive weed in the southeastern United States (P. montana; better known as kudzu), but relatively little is known about its early evolution and biogeographic origin.
Methods: On the basis of comparative analyses of the fruit and leaflet architecture of closely related extant and fossil taxa, we studied the fossil history and biogeography of Pueraria.
Key results: Fossil Pueraria is recognized on the basis of distinctive fruit and foliage from the Mio-Pliocene of middle latitudes in China, Japan, Abkhazia, and Croatia. Recognition of P. miothunbergiana from the Mio-Pliocene of China and Japan is reinforced by a trifoliolate leaf as well as isolated lateral and terminal leaflets. Pueraria shanwangensis sp. nov. represents the first recognition of fossil Pueraria fruits. This fruit species co-occurs with P. miothunbergiana in the Middle Miocene Shanwang flora and possibly represents the same population. Pueraria maxima (Unger) comb. nov., previously named as Dolichites maximus or Desmodium maximum, is recognized on the basis of leaflets from the Miocene of Croatia and Abkhazia. Other prior fossil reports of Pueraria and Dolichites are reevaluated.
Conclusions: Pueraria had begun to diversify by at least the Middle Miocene and had spread into the Mio-Pliocene subtropical and temperate floras of the Balkan Peninsula, the Caucasus, and eastern Asia, which suggests the present diversity of this genus in tropical Asia and Oceania might have originated from the mid-latitudes of Eurasia.
Key Words: biogeography ? Dolichites ? kudzu ? Leguminosae ? Miocene ? Neogene ? paleobotany ? Pueraria
