Conifer extinction in Quaternary Italian records

Pollen analysis is often not definitive in identifying conifer pollen taxa, because pollen of many genera are indistinguishable through the light microscope. An integration of pollen and macrofossils analyses is needed, as woods, leaves, and seeds are often identified with greater taxonomic precision than pollen. The identification of Keteleeria pollen is doubtful, but the local presence of this tree is documented in permineralized fossil woods from the Sabatini volcanic district (Latium) in rocks younger than 700 ka, the beginning of substantial volcanic activity of the area. During the Pliocene and the Early Pleistocene, “Taxodiaceae” forests developed several times in the Italian peninsula. A permineralized wood of Taxodium was found in the “Tufi litoidi” (Auct.) of the “Peperino” formation of Via Flaminia (Rome), dated 450 ka, together with many other permineralized fossil woods and leaves, some of which belonging to taxa not distinguishable by pollen. They document the presence of several conifer taxa: Amentotaxus, Cephalotaxus, Torreya, Abies, Pinus, Cupressus, Juniperus, Taxus.Considering the pollen record, Tsuga, Cathaya, and Cedrus are at present extinct in Italy. Picea and Abies, which were well represented in several phases of Middle and Upper Pleistocene age around Rome, are no longer included in the flora of Latium.