A review of dipterocarps - Center for International Forestry Research

Biogeography and Evolutionary Systematics of Dipterocarpaceae
Figure 3. Paleogeographical reconstitution of southeast Asian Permo-Triassic in conformity with paleobotanic
data (from Vozenin-Serra and Salard-Cheboldaeff 1994).
Be the origin in Europe or in Africa, both cases would
have favoured dispersal and colonisation by the small,
light, large-winged fruits over great distances and
probably under drier conditions than those of the present
rain forests. This could explain why certain present taxa
suggest an ancestral form with these fruit characters and
again brings forward the hypothesis (Maury et al. 1975a,
Maury 1978, 1979, Maury-Lechon 1979b) of an origin
in open (perhaps semi-dry) environment. Forms with
wingless fruits would have had the only possibility to
concentrate their evolutionary potential into the
protective structures around the seed (e.g., Vateria,
Vateriopsis, Stemonoporus, certain Vatica and other
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1. Sinkiang block (Tarim) + Sino-Korean block (North China).
2. Yangtse block (North China).
3. North Tibet block (North Xizang + North-West Xunnan + Shan Plateau).
4. Khorat-Kontum block (East Thailand, most of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, South of Song Ba suture).
5. South Tibet block (Lhassa plate + lands located South of Yalu Tsangpo).
6. Kashmir.
7. Iran and Afghanistan (Helmand block).
8. Turkey.
9. Spain.
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6
7
5
1
3
2
4
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species with large wingless fruits), these structures could
have favoured water dispersal. In the taxa possessing
winged fruits the evolutionary potential might have
remained available for new opportunities. Upuna and
Monotes kerstingii are perhaps parallel in this respect,
as they suggest the hypothesis that they represent similar
situations developed in or near Laurasia (Upuna) and in
Gondwana (Monotes kerstingii) during long periods of
supposed separation.
Past Continental Changes and Floral Evolution
Past flora also underline a connection between large
floristic-climatic changes and the main known collisions