我国更新世花生化石的发现及其意义

1960年和1984年分别在广西桂林的屏风山及马山溶洞的灰华堆积物中发现了大熊猫—剑齿象动物群化石,其中有数十粒类似花生的化石颗粒,已全部钙化。经研究其为原始野生花生的荚果,从其颗粒大小及果荚构造与现代野生花生(南美产)及现代人工栽培的珍珠豆型花生荚果对比,它表现出明寻的原始性。据与其共生的古脊惟动物的时代确定占花生的时代为中一晚更新世,命名为户alaeoarachis sinensis gen.et sp.nov.(中华古花生)(新属、新种)。 中华古花生的发现,证实了中国确是花生原产国之一,为研守花生的起源、栽培史及其传播提供了重要线索。

DISCOVERY OF PEANUTS FOSSIL OF PLEISTOCENE IN CHINA AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

Several dozen calcified peanuts were found respectively in the cave tufa in Pingfeng Hill and Mashan Hill, Guilin, Guangxi, in i960 and 1984. Researches show that these fossil peanuts are wild peanuts of archetype.Compared with the modern wild peanuts in South America and the modern pearl-type of Arachis hypogaea, the size and shell structure of the fossils prove to be evidently primitive. According to the accompanying Ailuropoda-Stego-don fauna fossils, these peanuts can date back to the niiddle-late Pleistocene. These peanuts were named the Palaeoarachis sinensis gen. et sp. nov. During the pleistocene wild peanuts grew on the terrace along the Li?, Jiang .River, their pods were carried into caves by Rodent (.Rhizomys) and petrified there. The discovery indicates that China is one of the peanuts provenaces. It provides important information for studing the origin of peanuts and history of. its cultivation,