A reconsideration of the diversity of Symplocos in the European Neogene on the basis of fruit morphology D.H. Mai a,b , E. Martinetto a, ⁎ a Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy b Museum für Naturkunde Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany Received 4 November 2004; received in revised form 3 January 2006; accepted 4 February 2006 Available online 24 March 2006 Abstract A taxonomic reassessment of Symplocos from the Neogene of Europe is proposed based on morphological and anatomical features of fruit stones at the macro- and mesoscopic scale. In light of the large extent of polymorphism observed in fossil and recent stones, we dramatically reduced the number of species in the European Neogene. Only 11 out of 26 fossil species cited in the literature of the last two decades were still considered valid, and, due to the species concept we applied, we suggest that this number roughly corresponds to the number of ancient botanical species which actually grew in the lowlands of Europe from 30 to 2 My ago. The characters of the valid species are extensively illustrated to provide a guide for species identification. An updated overview of the stratigraphic and geographic distribution of the species of the European Neogene is also provided. A comparative analysis of fossil fruits and analogous modern material (poorly available) has been carried out with the aim to derive climatic information from modern plants. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Symplocos; fruits; diversity; Europe; Neogene 1. Introduction The genus Symplocos, which presently is not native to Europe, has a rich fossil record in this area (Fig. 1), both of pollen (Krutzsch, 1989) and macrofossils (mainly fruits). Symplocos fruits are also known in North America from a few Eocene localities (Manche- ster, 1994; Tiffney, 1999) and the early Miocene Brandon Lignite (Tiffney, 1994, 1999). All the modern species of Symplocos produce drupes containing a decay-resistant lignified endocarp (stone), which often shows species-diagnostic characters (Fig. 2). Thus, the analysis of the morphological diversity of fossil endocarps can be considered a useful tool to reconstruct the past specific diversity in Symplocos, especially in central Europe, where such remains have been reported from several sites, sometimes in huge quantities (Kirchheimer, 1950, 1957; Mai, 1970; Basilici et al., 1997). In Palaeogene localities of Europe, 14 fruit species assigned to Symplocos have been reported (Ettingshau- sen, 1877; Chandler, 1926; Reid and Chandler, 1933; Kirchheimer, 1939a; Chandler, 1960b, 1961, 1962, 1963; Mai, 1970), but in our opinion only 7 species (Symplocos casparyi Ludwig, Symplocos headonensis Chandler, Symplocos kirstei Kirchheimer, Symplocos lakensis Chandler, Symplocos minutula (Sternberg) Kirchheimer, Symplocos trilocularis Reid and Chandler, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 140 (2006) 1 – 26 www.elsevier.com/locate/revpalbo ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: edoardo.martinetto@unito.it (E. Martinetto). 0034-6667/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2006.02.001