© 2020 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2021, 196, 1–20 1 Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2021, 196, 1–20. With 6 figures. *Corresponding author. E-mail: rpujana@gmail.com The micro- and megafossil record of Nothofagaceae from South America ROBERTO R. PUJANA 1, * , , DAMIÁN A. FERNÁNDEZ 2 , CAROLINA PANTI 1 and NICOLÁS CAVIGLIA 1 1 Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina 2 CADIC-CONICET, Laboratorio de Geomorfología y Cuaternario, B. Houssay 200, 9410 Ushuaia, Argentina Received 2 December 2019; revised 9 June 2020; accepted for publication 27 October 2020 We compiled the numerous fossil records (486) assigned to Nothofagaceae including pollen grains (from surface sediments and continental and oceanic borehole cores), leaves, woods and reproductive structures from South America. All the records are revised and the latest systematic treatments and ages of the bearing strata of each record are followed. When possible, we proposed a subgeneric affinity to each record based on updated bibliography. Fossils of three (Nothofagus, Fuscospora and Lophozonia) of the four subgenera are found in similar proportions through time since the Late Cretaceous. Fossils with reliable affinity with subgenus Brassospora were not found in South America. Most of the records are concentrated in the southern tip of South America (Patagonia Region) and nearby areas. After a significant presence of Nothofagaceae in the Cretaceous, the family declined in diversity and abundance in the Palaeocene and then increased from the Eocene to the Miocene. In the Miocene, the records reach their maximum diversity and abundance, and Nothofagaceae usually dominate the assemblages of pollen, leaves and woods from Patagonia. Pliocene Nothofagaceae records are virtually absent, probably because sedimentary rocks of that age are rare in Patagonia. The fossil record for Nothofagaceae varies according to environmental turnover; when tropical/subtropical floras were present in Patagonia in the Palaeocene–early Eocene, Nothofagaceae contracted southwards and when open steppes developed in the Miocene of east Patagonia, Nothofagaceae contracted westward. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: Cenozoic – Cretaceous – fossil leaves – fossil pollen grains – fossil wood – Patagonia. INTRODUCTION Nothofagaceae comprise only one genus, Nothofagus Blume. All species are trees (rarely shrubs) and have a mostly Southern Hemisphere distribution. Nothofagus has been divided into four subgenera (Nothofagus, Brassospora Philipson & M.N.Philipson, Lophozonia Turcz. and Fuscospora R.S.Hill & J.Read) based on cupule and leaf morphology (Hill & Read, 1991), and molecular systematics of the extant species of the family strongly support the monophyly of the four subgenera (Martin & Dowd, 1993; Manos, 1997; Setoguchi et al., 1997; Acosta & Premoli 2010; Premoli et al. , 2012; Sauquet et al. , 2012). Subgenera of Nothofagus have been raised to generic status (Heenan & Smissen, 2013), but this was later rebutted (Hill, Jordan & Macphail, 2015). Three of the four subgenera (Nothofagus, Lophozonia and Fuscospora) inhabit temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere (New Zealand, Australia and South America), whereas the fourth (Brassospora) inhabits tropical regions (New Guinea and New Caledonia) (Sauquet et al., 2012). In South America, there are ten Nothofagus spp., mostly deciduous, distributed in the Andean Region from 33° to 56°S latitude (Donoso, 1996; Veblen et al., 1996). Nothofagaceae have been considered as a key family for biogeography and numerous studies with many studies having been published (Van Steenis, 1971; Linder & Crisp, 1995; Hill, 2001a; Swenson, Hill & McLoughlin, 2001; Cook & Crisp, 2005; Knapp et al., 2005; Heads, 2006; Moreira Muñoz, 2011; Acosta, Mathiasen & Premoli, 2014). Leaf physiognomy and its relation to climate has also been studied extensively in this family (Hinojosa et al., 2016; Glade-Vargas, Hinojosa & Leppe, 2018). Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/botlinnean/article/196/1/1/6056206 by guest on 18 April 2021