Age constraints on a Neogene tropical rainforest in China and its relation to the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum

Tropical rainforests have strongly influenced Earth systems throughout their evolutionary history. Plant taxa found in the Fotan Group of Fujian Province indicate that an Asian tropical rainforest prevailed in southeastern China during the Miocene. Abundant insect-bearing ambers co-occur with diagnostic plant fossils in outcrop. Fotan Group fossils demonstrate that highly diverse tropical ecosystems existed during the early Neogene in...