New Palaeobotanical Data From The Satovcha Graben (Southwest Bulgaria)

As a result of the contract cooperation between Regional Natural History Museum – Plovdiv and Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research-BAS over the past three years a field and cameral activity were done. The aim was to create a museum palaeobotanical collection and to present a phytofossil exposition in the Paleontology hall of the museum. Field researches were committed on the Neogene florabearing deposits close to Satovcha Village (Western Rhodopes Mts.). The research was funded by RNHM-Plovdiv. Forty fife fossil taxa were defined from new extracted material. Seven of them are new for this local palaeoflora. These are Cornus buchii, Cyclolobium aff. brasiliense, Distylium aff. racemosa, Litsea primigenia, Picea aff. schrenkiana, Pinus peuce foss., Viburnum aff. sempervirens. In the course of determining activity and in compliance with modern perception for the fossil species Betula macrophylla, it was revised as B. dubiosa. Registration of the taxon Distylium aff. racemosa in this locality helped to determine the ancients forest from Yakushima island (South Japan) as a model for the vegetation and climate reconstruction in the Rhodopes Mts through the middle Miocene. The fossil flora from the region of the Satovcha Village is characterized by its great diversity. It contains over 100 fossil species. This is the richest local palaeoflora in Bulgaria. Though, the ascertainment of new cited taxa shows that an enrichment of its taxonomic composition is possible by future research in the area. This opportunity should be used and studies should continue.