A new species of winged fruit from the Miocene of Ecuador: Tipuana ecuatoriana (Leguminosae)

Tipuana ecuatoriana sp. nov. (Leguminosae; Dalbergieae), is described from winged fruits collected in Miocene sediments of the Loja and Nabon Basins of Ecuador. Extensive comparisons with families that include genera with similar samaroid fruits or disperal units led to recognition of legume affinities for the fossil. Based upon the texture of the fruit, the position of the style remnant, and the venation of the fruit wing, the fossil conforms to the extant monotypic genus, Tipuana, native to subtropical Bolivia and northwest Argentina, but widely cultivated in the subtropics. Tipuana, and thus the Dalbergieae as presently recognized, were present in South America prior to the establishment of permanent land connection between North and South America.