# Chaneya

Chaneya is an extinct genus of fruits from the early to late Cenozoic period. This genus is known from seven fossil species found across North America, Asia and Europe.

## History and classification

Fossils now assigned to Chaneya species have been reported from Europe, North America and Eastern Asia. The European reports began in 1825 with Karl Koenig publishing Viburnum oeningense. That was followed by Heinrich Göpperts 1855 Getonia membranosa and Baron Constantin von Ettingshausens 1868 Diospyros palaeogaea. While the last species was not reassigned until 2011, the other were juggled twice and four times respectively.
The genus name Chaneya was coined by Yufei Wang and Steven Manchester as a patronym honoring Ralph Works Chaney, who provided the first description of the Shanwang formation species "Antholithes malvoides" and pioneered the comparative study of Chinese and North American Tertiary floras.

## Description

Flower with five-lobed, hypogynous, widely concave, rounded apices. One or two fruit bodies develop near the center and petals are described as wings, for wind dispersal behavior.Gynoecium apocarpous formed by two alternative whorls of stamen and overy, as bisexual flowers in C.tenuis, C.kokangensis, C.membranosa, C.hainanensis species while C.oeningensis have single whorl of female overy. Venation of sepals consisting of 3 to 5 main longitudinal subparallel veins with stronger mid vein and secondaries arising from longitudinal veins at acute angles. Precise systematic placement has proven difficult, as no specific leaf type has been assigned, probably because the leaves did not be carried by the wind as easily as fruits or flowers. Although the precise systematic position of Chaneya remains uncertain, reinterpreted floral morphology, the apocarpic superior gynoecium, the floral disc and oil cells in the petals suggest affinities to the order of Rutales or sapindales, namely under the family of Simaroubaceae or Rutaceae.

### Chaneya tenuis

Samara with 22–34.5 mm (0.87–1.36 in) (average 27 mm (1.1 in)) diameter fruits. The equal to subequal lobes are 13 mm (0.51 in) long by 5.3 mm (0.21 in) wide with entire margins and elliptical to obovate in outline. Two alternative whorls of five carpels (6 – 8 mm diameter smooth outer surface fruit bodies) placed near the margins of thickened disk with small undeveloped and possibly abortive ovaries, but unknown plant cuticles. Although resembling a flower, this species identified as a fruit with five petal like wings.
The species has been identified from a number of fossil localities across the North American west, with the oldest dating to the Early Eocenes Ypresian age in the Green River Formation, Wyoming and Clarno Formation of Oregon, USA. In the Canadian far west fossils are known from the Eocene Okanagan Highlands in the Allenby Formation at Whipsaw Creek and the McAbee Fossil Beds near Cache Creek, British Columbia. The youngest occurrence in North America is from the Priabonian Florissant Formation of Colorado. Two localities in China are also host to C. tenuis, the Yilan and Shanwang floras.
The species was first named as Porana tenuis by Leo Lesquereux in 1883, and includes specimens originally named Porana cockerelli by Frank Hall Knowlton (1916) and Astronium truncatum (Lesquereux) MacGinite 1953

### Chaneya hainanensis

Chaneya hainanensis is distinguished by having wing venation consisting of three primary longitudinal subparallel veins with and two fruit bodies. The species was described in 2012 by XinXin Feng and JianHua Jin from specimens collected in the Changchang Formation of Hainan Island, located off the coast of South China. The sediments of the region were dated as "Eocene" with Fang and Jin noting that palynology supported a Early to Early Late Eocene age range. At the time of description, the holotype, specimen CCF-018a&b was deposited in the Biological Museum of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. The species name was selected as a toponym referencing Hainan as the type locality.

### Chaneya kokengensis

Infructescence a receme and 0.8 mm thick and 18mm long pedicel. Corolla of the flower with 28-40 (average 36.3) mm diameter and 12–21 mm long and 5–10 mm wide entire margined equal to subequal elliptical to obovate sepals. Well preserved sepal venation consisting 5 main longitudinal subparallel veins. Two alternative whorls of five carpels (9 mm diameter smooth outer surface fruit bodies) placed near the margins of thickened disk and can identify by clear stomates with well preserved cuticles.Chaneya tenuis differs from this by large size petals.
Miocene fossils from Kogeonweon coal field, Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province North Korea, and the Shanwang formation Shanwang Village, Linju County, Shandong Province, China

#### Synonymy

Porana kokengensis 1939, Porana macrantha 1993, Antholithes malvoides 1940, Astronium truncatum auct. (non [Lesq.] MacGinitie) WGCPC 1978

### Chaneya oeningensis

Found as Chenaya oeningensis Teodoridis and Kvaček. Corolla of the flower with 22 mm diameter including 10mm long and 5mm wide elliptical single petals. Unlike other species, consist single whorl gynoecium of five carpels alternating with sepals and relatively large in size. Glandular cavities as dark spots in smaller resinous bodies on petal tissues. Distinct venation with several main veins arising at the base, running subparallel across the lobes while weak secondaries ascending steeply towards the apex. Broader and narrower petals than C.tenuis but less than C. membranosa.

#### Locality

Early Palaeogene in Bikaner and Barmer (Rajasthan, India) and Middle miocene in European samples from South West Germany (O¨hningen), Most Basin, Czech Republic.

#### Synonymy

Antholithus oeningensis Al. Braun ex Unger 1845 & 1847, Cordia tiliaefolia 1845, Getonia oeningensis 1847 &1850, Porana oeningensis (Unger) Heer 1859, Petraea oeningensis Al. Braun Heer 1859, Porana macrantha Heer 1859 & 1904, Porana inaequiloba Heer 1859, Monotes macranthus (Heer) Weyland 1937, Astronium macranthum (Heer) Iljinskaja et Akhmetiev 1989, Astronium oeningensis 1989 &1993

### Chaneya membranosa

The species is known from the late Miocene Sośnica flora, Schossnitz in older liturature, Sośnica, Województwo dolnośląskie, Poland.
Initially named as Getonia membranosa by Göppert (1855), moved to Porana membranosa by Wilhelm Schimper (1872) and then Hydrangea membranosa by Mei (1985). In the initial redescription of C. oeningensis the polish fossils were included, however a reinvestigation of them by Manchester and Zastawniak (2007) deemed them a separate species. They also deemed the species Getonia truncata, Carpinus involvens, and Diospyros brachysepala as junior synonyms of Chaneya membranosa

### Chaneya ninmengensis

A flower with calyx lacking and subequal sized petals.

#### Locality

Oligocene in Gaoling village, Ningming County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

### Chaneya palaeogaea

Fossils of Chaneya palaeogaea were described from the Late Eocene sediments outcropping at Kučlín near Bílina in northwestern Czech Republic. The specimens were first described by Baron Constantin von Ettingshausen in 1868, who placed the new species as Diospyros palaeogaea, assuming a relationship to the ebonys and persimmons. This placement was not changed until 2011 when the flora was redescribed by Zlatko Kvacek and Vasilis Teodoridis who recognized the fossils as Chaneya fruits.