Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 6.3
Plant microfossils from the Oligo-Miocene La Quinta Formation, Simojovel,
Mexico. (a)
Ceratopteris.
(b)
Sphaeropteris-Trichipteris.
(c)
Alfaroa-Oreomunnea.
(d)
Crudia.
From Graham 1999, fi gs. 2, 8, 9, 7, 18. Used with permission from the Botanical Society of
America, St. Louis.
paleovegetation, orogenic history, and coastal position of the locality, it is
likely that the environments of southern Mexico in Oligocene and early
Miocene times were near tropical and trending toward greater seasonality
and signifi cantly increasing habitat diversity.
Only a few fossil fl oras of middle Eocene through early Miocene age
have been studied from the Caribbean region. These are the middle Eo-
cene Saramaguacán assemblage from Cuba (Areces-Mallea 1988; Graham
et al. 2000), the Guys Hill fl ora from Jamaica (Graham 1993), and the late
