Nothofagus

Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere, found across southern South America and eastern and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and New Caledonia. The species are ecological dominants in many temperate forests in these regions. Some species are reportedly naturalised in Germany and Great Britain. The genus has a rich fossil record of leaves, cupules, and pollen, with fossils extending into the late Cretaceous period and occurring in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, and South America.

Nothofagus

Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
NothofagaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Angiospermae

Time the record covers

At least 65 million years on record.

The record covers at least 66 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 83.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 13 of 370 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 7 of 370 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 32 of 370 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 107 of 370 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 107 of 370 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 32 of 370 occurrencesPleistocene — about 65 of 370 occurrences85–82 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences82–80 Mya — about 2 occurrences80–77 Mya — about 2 occurrences77–74 Mya — about 2 occurrences74–71 Mya — about 2 occurrences71–68 Mya — about 3 occurrences68–65 Mya — about 3 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 3 occurrences63–60 Mya — about 1 occurrence60–57 Mya — about 2 occurrences57–54 Mya — about 3 occurrences54–51 Mya — about 4 occurrences51–48 Mya — about 4 occurrences48–45 Mya — about 4 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 4 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 5 occurrences40–37 Mya — about 5 occurrences37–34 Mya — about 4 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 26 occurrences31–28 Mya — about 28 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 28 occurrences26–23 Mya — about 27 occurrences23–20 Mya — about 20 occurrences20–17 Mya — about 20 occurrences17–14 Mya — about 15 occurrences14–11 Mya — about 12 occurrences11–8.5 Mya — about 18 occurrences8.5–5.7 Mya — about 18 occurrences5.7–2.8 Mya — about 31 occurrences2.8–0 Mya — about 76 occurrences66 Mya11.7 ka85 Mya0 Mya

370 occurrences of Nothofagus on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

370 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

18 formations

Arctowski Cove — 62.17°S, 58.49°WFoulden Hills Diatomite — 45.53°S, 170.22°ERio Guillermo — 51.25°S, 72.28°WLa Meseta — 64.25°S, 56.72°WLa Meseta — 64.23°S, 56.63°WLa Meseta — 64.25°S, 56.68°WHalf Three Point — 62.23°S, 58.98°WHalf Three Point — 62.15°S, 58.73°WZamek — 62.19°S, 58.45°WMorwell — 38.23°S, 146.62°ELópez de Bertodano — 64.32°S, 56.87°WSobral — 64.28°S, 56.70°WSobral? — 64.25°S, 56.70°WFildes — 62.17°S, 59.07°WLa Postrera — 38.17°S, 58.77°WYallourn — 38.22°S, 146.56°EPidinga — 31.24°S, 121.63°ECross Valley — 64.26°S, 56.65°WMeyer Desert — 85.16°S, 166.07°ESnow Hill — 63.88°S, 57.60°WLopez de Bertodano — 63.88°S, 57.60°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Nothofagus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 315 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Nothofagus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Nothofagus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

840 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 282 sites for Nothofagus, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

47 references

Each of the 370 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 35 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Nothofagus

Credit
Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Nothofagus was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itNothofagaceae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Blume 1850