A new species of Pityostrobus (Pinaceae) from the Cretaceous of California: moving towards understanding the Cretaceous radiation of Pinaceae

The evolutionary history of Pinaceae is documented by numerous fossils, which include a number of anatomically preserved ovulate cones with many systematically informative characters. To date, four extinct genera have been recognized: Pseudoaraucaria, Pityostrobus, Obirastrobus and Eathiestrobus. A new pinaceous cone from the Early Cretaceous of California is described as Pityostrobus pluriresinosa sp. nov., adding to the diversity of known Cretaceous pinaceous cones. Phylogenetic analysis places the new fossil cone in the pinoid clade along with Pinus, Eathiestrobus and numerous species of Pityostrobus. Combined with a non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination, the data reinforce that while Pityostrobus does not represent a natural genus, it likely reflects the rapid evolution of Pinaceae by showing that ovulate cone morphospace was widely occupied by Pityostrobus that has become more restricted in extant genera. Early Cretaceous taxa from Europe and eastern North America show the broadest occupatio...