Two new Banksia species from Pleistocene sediments in Western Tasmania

Abstract

Rapid and extreme environmental changes during the Pleistocene are likely causes of the extinction of some Banksia species in Tasmania. The leaves and infructescences of Banksia kingii Jordan & Hill, sp. nov. are described from late Pleistocene sediments. Banksia kingii is related to the extant B. saxicola. Banksia strahanensis Jordan & Hill, sp. nov. (known only from a leaf and leaf fragments and related to B. spinulosa) is described from Early to Middle Pleistocene sediments in Tasmania. This represents the third Pleistocene macrofossil record of a plant species which is now extinct in Tasmania.