研究人员通过对非洲和印度花粉化石的古生物地理学分析，并结合分子数据和琥珀化石记录，表明在白垩纪中期，龙脑香科（Dipterocarpaceae）起源于热带非洲，并在晚马斯特里赫特和古新世期间扩散到印度，导致印度板块上的季节性龙脑香科的范围扩大。印度-亚洲碰撞进一步促进了龙脑香科从印度向东南亚类似气候区的扩散，这支持了它们向印度以外的迁移。龙脑香科的扩散途径可能为目前广泛分布于东南亚的几个大温带被子植物科提供了一个替代生物地理学假说的框架。
据了解，由于缺乏可靠的化石，人们对起源于非洲-印度的古代巨型被子植物品系在亚洲热带森林中的演化和多样化了解甚少。
附：英文原文
Title: Southeast Asian Dipterocarp origin and diversification driven by Africa-India floristic interchange
Author: Mahi Bansal, Robert J. Morley, Shivaprakash K. Nagaraju, Suryendu Dutta, Ashish Kumar Mishra, Jeyakumar Selveraj, Sumit Kumar, Deepti Niyolia, Sachin Medigeshi Harish, Omer Babiker Abdelrahim, Shaa eldin Hasan, Bramasamdura Rangana Ramesh, Selvadurai Dayanandan, Harsanti P. Morley, Peter S. Ashton, Vandana Prasad
Issue&Volume: 2022-01-28
Abstract: The evolution and diversification of ancient megathermal angiosperm lineages with Africa-India origins in Asian tropical forests is poorly understood because of the lack of reliable fossils. Our palaeobiogeographical analysis of pollen fossils from Africa and India combined with molecular data and fossil amber records suggest a tropical-African origin of Dipterocarpaceae during the mid-Cretaceous and its dispersal to India during the Late Maastrichtian and Paleocene, leading to range expansion of aseasonal dipterocarps on the Indian Plate. The India-Asia collision further facilitated the dispersal of dipterocarps from India to similar climatic zones in Southeast Asia, which supports their out-of-India migration. The dispersal pathway suggested for Dipterocarpaceae may provide a framework for an alternative biogeographic hypothesis for several megathermal angiosperm families that are presently widely distributed in Southeast Asia.
DOI: abk2177
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk2177