Revision of Icacinaceae from the Early Eocene London Clay flora based on X-ray micro-CT

The Early Eocene (Ypresian) London Clay Formation contains one of the most important fruit and seed assemblages from the Paleogene, including a large diversity of taxa (>350 spp.) preserved as pyrite permineralizations retaining 3D structure as well as anatomical detail. Despite the importance of the flora for understanding angiosperm biogeographic and evolutionary history, the majority of the fossil material has not been revisited since the original taxonomic treatments by E.M. Reid and M.E.J. Chandler. Given subsequent advances in our understanding of angiosperm phylogeny and fruit morphology, coupled with technological advances in imaging/visualizing fossil material, many of the taxa represented in the flora deserve further study. Here we present a revision of the pantropical family Icacinaceae using X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) images of 21 species from the flora. Based on the results, four new combinations are made, a new fossil-genus is established for a distincti...