Sloanea nimrodi (ETTINGSHAUSEN) KVAČEK et HABLY

Kvaček, Zlatko & Teodoridis, Vasilis, 2011, The Late Eocene Flora Of Kučlín Near Bílina In North Bohemia Revisited, Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae Series B 67 (3 - 4), pp. 83-144 : 95

Sloanea nimrodi (ETTINGSHAUSEN) KVAČEK et HABLY

Pl. 6, figs 3, 6

1869 Cissus nimrodi ETTINGSHAUSEN , p. 3, pl. 40, figs 3-4, 6-10.

1869 Celastrus cassinefolius UNGER ; Ettingshausen, p. 31, pl. 48, figs 17-18.

1869 Cassine palaeogea ETTINGSHAUSEN ; Ettingshausen, p. 38, pro parte pl. 46, fig. 13.

1869 Crataegus bilinica ETTINGSHAUSEN , p. 54, pl. 53, fig. 17.

1985 Dicotylophyllum sparsidentatum BŮŽEK, HOLÝ et KVAČEK ; Mai and Walther, p. 117, pl. 9, figs 1-3, text-figs 1/16-17, 2/17-19.

1995 Icaciniphyllum nimrodi (ETTINGSHAUSEN) KVAČEK et BŮŽEK , p. 134, pl. 4, figs 1-6, text-fig. 2.

2001 Sloanea nimrodi (ETTINGSHAUSEN) KVAČEK et HABLY in Kvaček et al., p. 117.

Leaves simple, broadly elliptic to obovate, 30–52 mm long and 18–32 wide (L/W ratio <2), petiole short, margin coarsely crenulate to double crenulate to sub-entire, venation craspedodromous to eucamptodromous, midrib stout, straight, secondaries in mostly in 5 pairs, basal pair slightly more prominent, opposite, tertiaries much thinner, percurrent and oblique to the secondaries, forming lops along the margin.

L e c t o t y p e e s t a b l i s h e d h e r e: BP 55. 2324.1

( Ettingshausen 1869, pl. 40, fig. 6) refigured in pl. 6, fig. 6.

D i s c u s s i o n: The leaves of S. nimrodi were at first misinterpreted for the Icacinaceae foliage ( Kvaček and Bůžek 1995) or merged with a large-leaved S. olmediaefolia (UNG.) KVAČEK et HABLY (as Icaciniphyllum artocarpites – Mai and Walther 2000), which is similar in its epidermal structure. The co-occurring fruit at Kučlín, described below as Sloanea manchesteri sp. n. reveals further traits of this late Eocene small-leaved representative, whose capsules bear longer and coarser spines. On the contrary, the Oligocene S. olmediaefolia has been accompanied by finely and shortly spiny fruits of Sloanea engelhardtii sp. n. (see below). S. elliptica (ANDREÁNSZKY) KVAČEK et HABLY from the Hungarian Oligocene is another species with robust, variable foliage and very large fruits covered by long spines (Kvaček et al. 2001).

S. nimrodi occurs, besides Kučlín, also in the core Úc 9 of the North Bohemian Eocene and is common also in the Late Eocene Zeitz Floral Assemblage of the Weisselster Basin ( Mai and Walther 1985 – as Dicotylophyllum sparsidentatum ; Mai and Walther 2000, pl. 5, fig. 6 – as Icaciniphyllum artocarpites ). It obviously preferred mesic habitats, as its extant relatives, but occasionally appeared also in the fluvial facies in the mine Haselbach and the sand pit Klausa, as well as in the coal facies in the mine Profen ( Mai and Walther 2000). In the Kučlín flora S. nimrodi is accompanied by a large-leaved S. olmediaefolia , which is very rare there but spread to other localities during the Oligocene (Kvaček et al. 2001, Hably 2010).

M a t e r i a l: BP 55.1151 .1 (paratype), BP 55.2313 .1 (paratype), BP 55.2324 . 1 (lectotype), BP 55.2330 .1, BP 2432.1 (paratypes) , NM G 5033 , G 7677 , G 7895 , G 7900 a,b, G 8673 , G 8674 , Olomouc Univ. 204, MMG KIN 266 .