Remains Of A Subtropical Humid Forest In A Messinian Evaporitebearing Succession At Govone, Northwestern Italy - Preliminary Results Author Martinetto, Edoardo Author Bertini, Adele Author Mantzouka, Dimitra Author Natalicchio, Marcello Author Niccolini, Gabriele Author Kovar-Eder, Johanna text Fossil Imprint 2022 2022-08-26 78 1 157 188 http://dx.doi.org/10.37520/fi.2022.007 journal article 10.37520/fi.2022.007 2533-4069 7167791 Fagus cf. gussonii A.MASSAL., 1858 Pl. 3, Figs 8a, b, 9 M a t e r i a l. An almost complete leaf (MGPTPU141027) and a fragmentary one (MGPT-PU141099) from GLA20, other two almost complete leaves from GLAz (MGPT-PU141026, MGPT-PU141100). D e s c r i p t i o n. Specimen figured on Pl. 3, Fig. 9. Simple leaf petiolate, petiole fragmentary, lamina elliptic, l × w about 50 × 25 mm , ratio l/w about 2, base shape slightly convex, base angle almost 90°, apex not preserved; margin entire (?), not well preserved; midvein slender, slightly s-shaped; secondaries probably craspedodromous, slender, very regularly spaced, 10 pairs preserved, arising at moderately steep angles, near the base at first slightly converging towards midvein; tertiaries probably percurrent, obtuse to midvein. R e m a r k s. The leaves from Govone fall within the variability of the abundant Messinian leaves from the surroundings of Alba ( Martinetto et al. 2000 , Denk 2004 ). Denk (2004) treated this assemblage as Fagus cf. haidingeri KOVÁTS , but considered it to be in the “hybrid zone between F . haidingeri / F . gussonii ”. Later, Teodoridis et al. (2015b , 2017 ) assigned Messinian specimens from Romagna (northern Italy ) to F . gussonii . As we do not see definite differences between Fagus leaves from the type locality of F . gussonii (Senigallia) , and those of the Romagna and Alba areas, we propose the use of the name Fagus cf. gussonii for those from the Alba region. Rich occurrences of F . gussonii , e.g., in Turkey ( Güner et al. 2017 ) show wide variability, including leaves identical to those from Govone, and from northern Italy in general. The variation in leaf morphology of Fagus of the rich northwestern Italian Pliocene assemblages ( Martinetto 2003 , Denk 2004 ) differs from the Messinian ones. Therefore, it appears justified to apply a different name to the Pliocene beech leaves, i.e., F . haidingeri ( Denk 2004 ) .