Hibiscus sarmatiacus Doweld, 2018

Hibiscus sarmatiacus Doweld , sp. nov.

≡ Hibiscus splendens Baikovskaja View in CoL (in Kryshtofovich & Baikovskaja 1965: 110), nom. inval. (ICN, Art. 40.1) & nom. illeg. non Hibiscus splendens Graham (1830: 175) View in CoL .

Description:—Leaves large, 5–7-angular in shape, with lobes and not deep wedge-shaped basis and attenuate apex. Teeth festoon-shaped, commonly with papillate apex. Basal veins of 2 pairs, terminate in the lobes or larger teeth. Secondary veinlets and its branches craspedodrome.

Type:—[fossil leaves] Krynka river, right tributary of Mius river, Matveev-Kurgan district, Rostov region, Russian Federation ( holotype, 954+954a/982, Komarov Botanical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St.- Petersburg, Russian Federation)—figured by Kryshtofovich & Baikovskaja 1965: pl. 33, fig. 3.

Occurrence:—Middle Miocene (Serravalian = Upper Badenian); Europe.

Eponymy:—From Sarmatia , an ancient palaeogeographical unit (now Eastern Europe).

IFPNI: 9DFD2BDC-0E42-1220-1740-3E14F505F436.

Note:—The fossil-species Hibiscus splendens Baikovskaja (in Kryshtofovich & Baikovskaja 1965: 110) was not validly published, since the author did not designate the type (ICN, Art. 40.1), based the description on several leaf imprints (Coll. 982: 954–956, 1278, 1300, 1302). The fossil-species was not validated later by Purceladze & Tsagareli (1974: 99), who reported this Hibiscus from Transcaucasus ( Guria, Georgia). In addition, the species name should be changed since the species epithet is preoccupied by the validly published name of extant Hibiscus splendens Graham (1830: 175) .