110-mln-year-old fossil wood discovered in east China

Researchers have discovered a fossil of a new extinct conifer wood species in east China's Zhejiang Province, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The species, Brachyoxylon zhouii, dating back to the Cretaceous period about 110 million years ago, was found by a team led by researchers with the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology under the CAS and the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences.

Quantitative analysis on the growth rings of the species was carried out, indicating that the forest composition was evergreen and the trees could retain their leaves for up to 15 years, according to the research article published in the journal Historical Biology.

Also, it was deduced that the province was dominated by a subtropical to tropical and relatively semiarid climate during the Early Cretaceous period.

The fossil wood discovery provides evidence to reconstruct the habitats of dinosaurs in the Early Cretaceous period in Zhejiang, said the CAS.