Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 89. (Budapest 1997)

Erdei, B. ; Kvaček, Z.: A newly recovered collection of the Early Miocene flora of Kymi (Greece) previously misinterpreted as the Upper Miocene flora of Tállya (NE Hungary)

great Sarmatian monograph entitled "Die Flora der sarmatischen Stufe in Ungarn" (ANDREÁNSZKY 1959). At the same time, KLÁRA RÁSKY carried out research on the Sarmatian flora of Tállya based on the collection deposited at the Department of Botany of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest. Her work resulted in two brief publications (RÁSKY 1958, 1964). RÁSKY believed wrongly, without any good evidence, that a part of the collections from 1875 on the labels of which the exact locality was not stated came from Tállya (see also ANDREÁNSZKY 1959: 23). Thus quite surprising elements, such as Diospyros rugosa SAPORTA 1862, abundant remains of Daphnogene, were announced for the flora of Tállya by RÁSKY. However, in the course of the revision of the flora from Tállya it has turned out that a considerable part of the fossils published by RÁSKY as the fossils provided by the site of Tállya was collected in fact during the last century at the Early Miocene site of Kymi in Greece (Fig. 2) and not at the Upper Miocene locality of Tállya in Hungary. At first sight, well formated slabs of yellowish marl deviate from the material known from the Hungarian Sarmatian, but exactly match other collections of the Kymi flora, kept e. g. in the Natural History Museum in Vienna (including the type material of UNGER 1862) and elsewhere. Both the Greek collection excavated at Kymi and the original collections of KOVÁTS and RÁSKY - provided really by the site in Tállya - are deposited at the Department of Botany of the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest. RÁSKY believed wrongly that the collection from "Tállya" (i. e. from Kymi) was made by KOVÁTS himself. RÁSKY (1958) separated the flora of Tállya into two groups. The first one is very similar to the Sarmatian floras of Erdőbénye with numerous common species, namely: Zelkova zelkovifolia (UNGER 1843) BÛZEK et KOTLÁBA, 1963, Podocarpium podocarpum (A. BRAUN, 1851) HERENDEEN 1992, Querem kubinyii (KOVÁTS ex ETTINGSHAUSEN, 1851) CZECZOTT 1951, Acer integerrimum (ViviANi, 1833) MASSALONGO, 1858, Carpinus grandis UNGER 1850 sensu HEER, 1856, etc. (ANDREÁNSZKY 1959, ERDEI 1995). Its fossiliferous matrix, which is rhyolitic tuff or clayey sediment often silicified secondarily, is also similar. According to the associated molluscs (Cardium gleichenbergense PAPP, 1954), the plant fossils occurred presumably in the layers of the upper part of the Lower Sarmatian to the lower part of the Upper Sarmatian (BOHNNÉ HAVAS, pers. comm.). The material collected and published by KOVÁTS in the last century (KOVÁTS 1856/7) and the fossils collected by RÁSKY in Tállya belong to this group. The fossiliferous matrix of the second group separated by RÁSKY is clayey marl. Actually, these plant fossils are representatives of the flora of Kymi in Greece. Based on the elements of the flora, its age must be older than Sarmatian. Not being aware of the true origin of the material, RÁSKY considered it to be of Upper Badenian age and believed that somewhere nearby Tállya such layers had been once accessible. The fact that the exact locality of the fossils belonging to the second group of RÁSKY is Kymi in Greece is supported by three facts: 1. Based on our studies, the list of species (of RÁSKY's second group) is considerably similar to that of the flora of Kymi (UNGER 1862, 1867). In addition, the list also