Vladimir Bozukov

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences | BAS · Department of Plant and Fungal Diversity and Resources

New data from the middle Miocene Satovcha paleoflora (SW Bulgaria) are presented. The three taxa studied here, which belong to the Division Pinophyta are defined on the basis of fossil disseminules. Cephalotaxus aff. fortunei was determined by an aril impression. Picea aff. shrenkiana and Pinus aff. mugo are identified by winged seed impressions.

Ten specimens of Middle Miocene petrified wood remains collected from the Bulgarian shore of Black Sea, close to Byala locality, were analysed through a microscopic study. The samples originate from the Galata Formation and are of Chokrakian age. Eight of these are taxonomically identified as Populoxylon sp. (cf. Populus tremula L.). This find repr...

New data on the distribution of species of the genus Cornus on the territory of Bulgaria during the Miocene are presented. The species C. megaphylla was found for the first time in the middle Miocene flora from Satovcha (SW Bulgaria). So far, this species has been established in the middle Miocene flora from Ruzhintsi (NW Bulgaria). A revision of t...

A revision of the species Bauhinia bulgarica, which was found in the fossil macroflora of Garmen (SW Bulgaria), is presented. The fossil material originates from sediments dated as Late Miocene-Early Pliocene. The new taxonomic solution is Smilax excelsa L. foss. It is accepted on the basis of the close morphological structure of the fossil leaf im...

New data on the Middle Miocene flora of Northwest Bulgaria Vladimir S. Bozukov & Dimiter A. Ivanov Key words: Bulgaria, Macclintockia basinervis, Melaleuca, Middle Miocene, Myrtaceae, paleoflora, TristaniopsisAbstract. Two leaf imprints have been studied of the Middle Miocene flora from Ruzhintsi village, Northwest Bul-garia. One was determined a...

The object of the study is the fossil fern Davallia haidingeri Ett. Ichnophytological and palynological methods were applied. The spores isolated from the sori of the fossil material are defined as Polipodiisporites alienus (R. Pot) Nagy.

The relations between Boboshevo paleoflora and paleoflora localities in Bulgaria defined as Maeotian, early-middle or late Pontian age are analyzed. Investigating the similarities between the taxa found in these localities and the taxa found in Boboshevo fossil flora presented a reliable instrument for determination of the Boboshevo paleoflora age....

Data for new local palaeoflora near the village of Bersin (SW Bulgaria) are presented. Eight species of fossil plants have been identified. Eotrigonobalanus furcinervis is dominant over other species. The flora-bearing layers originate from the lower part of the Nevestino Formation, which is formed by alternating sandstone and mudstone sediments. B...

Three partial fossils of avian feathers from the Middle Miocene locality of fossil flora and fauna near Satovcha village (SW Bulgaria) are presented.

The present paper provides new data about genus Carpinus in Cenozoic sediments in Bulgaria. A summary of the available data is also presented. We focus our study on the macro-remains recorded as bract imprints. The available data for fossil bract imprints are very limited and cover a short interval of time: from the Middle Miocene to the Late Plioc...

New fossil material from the Pernik Coal Basin (W Bulgaria) has been investigated. The flora-bearing sediments of this Basin are dated as late Oligocene-early Miocene. The macro-fossil material, which represents mainly leaf imprints , was collected from the three open-cast mines in the territory of Pernik-Bela Voda, Republika and Teva. Thirty-seven...

The first fossil jewel beetle discovered in Bulgaria is reported from deposits of the Satovcha Basin dated to the Middle Miocene.

Late Miocene sediments from the Beli Breg Coal Basin, Western Bulgaria, were investigated using spore-pollen analysis. Based on palynological characteristics, we describe dynamics and development of vegetation in the studied basin. The main types of palaeocoenoses are distinguished. The fossil flora is characterised by a variable structure of plant...

The first fossil Diptera of Miocene age and also first fossil Bibionidae discovered in Bulgaria are reported. The presence of relatively many specimens of the genus Plecia without any other Bibionid species is considered to indicate warmer climate than the present in the Rhodope mountains and distinguishes Satovcha Basin from other Middle Miocene-a...

During field investigations undertaken in 2016, a new fossil site that is situated inside the Blagoevgrad Graben near the town of Boboshevo and containing presumably upper Pontian–lower Dacian macroflora was found by M. Ivanov and determined by V. Bozukov. The fossils are found in situ 10 m below the surface inside the sediment outcrop considered a...

In the present article, the establishment of the species Castanopsis: C. bulgarica Man- tzouka, Ivanov, and Bozukov is proposed after the study of a new fagaceous fossil wood stem discovered in 2016 from a new Late Miocene to Early Pliocene plant fos- siliferous locality east of Boboshevo town, south-west Bulgaria. A detailed pal- aeoxylotomical st...

Programme of NECLIME workshop in Sofia, 2018

This work represents the first interdisciplinary approach on the relationship between travertines (as discharges of terrestrial geothermal fields related to the Neogene magmatism and active faulting) and plant fossils in Greece. The present contribution brings the first scientific data for the Quaternary-Pleistocene-Holocene palaeoflora of Zakyntho...

This work represents the first interdisciplinary approach on the relationship between travertines (as discharges of terrestrial geothermal fields related to the Neogene magmatism and active faulting) and plant fossils in Greece. The present contribution brings the first scientific data for the Quaternary-Pleistocene-Holocene palaeoflora of Zakyntho...

A discrepancy is found between the leaf morphology of fossil material and its species identification, which has been defined so far as Acer sanctae-crucis. The material originates from the Sarmatian flora of Močiar locality (central part of Slovakia). According to all morphological features that can be identified on the incomplete leaf imprint, we...

During the expedition held in July 2017, a new fossil material of the studied fossil site has been obtained. It consists mainly of leaf imprints, but imprints of inflorescences and cones were also found. The funds for this new study were provided by the Regional Natural History Museum of Plovdiv. The new fossil material will enrich the existing pal...

In situ pollen grains of the fossil flower remains of the Sparganium (Ty-phaceae), Castanea (Fagaceae) and Pinus (Pinaceae) of Middle Miocene materials from Southwest Bulgaria are described for the first time. Palynomor-phological investigation included pollen class, ornamentation, aperture, shape and size, and provided some important new data. Str...

This study is aimed at rendering in a more precise form the so far collected data about representatives of the family Araliaceae in the Bulgarian fossil macroflora, and to compare them with the latest findings in Europe and SW Asia. Fossil finds in Bulgaria identified so far as Dewalquea fraxinifolia are revised. They were referred to the species P...

The purpose of this research is to combine one of the basic principles of geology (the principle of uniformitarianism), with facies analysis and both to be used as tools to investigate the Upper Neogene and Quaternary sediments of the Blagoevgrad Graben. Based on this, evidence are presented that the alluvium facies zone distributed along the middl...

Data on the fossil plants from Tran and Breznik regions (Western Bulgaria) are very scarce. Palamarev (1980) recorded 4 species of Characeae and based on these findings discussed the Еarly Oligocene age of bitominous sediments in Breznik region. Here we present the first data on Oligocene fossil plants from the Erma Gorge and Tran region. The fossi...

The first paleontological data about the Eocene sediments in the studied region of Piyanets were published in the first half of the 20th century when Stefanoff and Dimitrov (1936) mentioned the presence of an insect (Diptera) in Upper Eocene/Lower Oligocene sediments near Rashka Grashtitsa Village. The same specimen was determined by Drensky as Myc...

The first fossil Odonata discovered in Bulgaria are described and illustrated, i.e., the aeshnid Oligaeschna bulgariensis sp. nov., the sieblosiid Stenolestes rhodopensis sp. nov., and the dysagrionid Primorilestes magnificus sp. nov. These genera are present in both Western Europe and Siberia in the Neogene. Their fossil discoveries in Bulgaria pr...

The Coexistence Approach (CA) analysis was applied to plant macro- and microfossils from the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene sites in western Bulgaria to obtain quantitative climate data and reconstruct climate dynamics. Cal- culated new values for the Sofia macroflora confirmed a warm-temperate and humid climate with mean annual temperature (MAT) b...

Results based on macropalaeobotanical research over the flora-bearing deposits of the Satovcha Graben (Western Rhodopes) were presented. The new fossil material obtained in 2014 contains 27 taxa. Four of them were new to the site: Eotrigonobalanus furcinervis, Salix cinerea foss., Periploca graeca foss., Typha angustifolia foss. The following was d...

Selected Central and Southeastern European plant assemblages were com-pared to throw new light on the late Miocene evolution of European ecosys-tems and climate dynamics. A practical comparison of Bulgarian, Slovak and Czech palaeofloras provides new data about south-north trend in vegetation distribution patterns in studied area. Changes in abunda...

A new species, Ficus palamarevii sp. nov. (Moraceae), have been described from the Lower Oligocene sediments from Bulgaria. The description of the species is based on leaf imprints disclosed in volcanogenic rocks in East Rhodopes Mts. The age of fossil finding is ca. 32 Ma as proved by isotope dating. Modern analogues of the fossil species grouth i...

The Bulgarian paleobotanical record provides important clues about the Paleogene vegetation and climate of the Tethyan Archipelago coastal areas of the evolving Eastern Paratethys. First results from a palaeoclimatic survey over a leaf flora discovered in an Oligocene volcano-sedimentary sequence, close to the village Ustren (East Rhodopes Mts., So...

Background/Question/Methods The Macedonian pine is a Balkan endemic and a Tertiary relic, and it is one of the commercially most valuable conifer species in SE Europe. One of the largest areas with P. peuce-dominated forests is in the Pirin Mountains (SW Bulgaria). Here, we examine the variability of the present P. peuce communities and the facto...

This paper presents the palaeoxylotomical study of silicified wood specimens found in Nanovitsa depression, Eastern Rhodope Mts. In this area, a Petrified Forest has been described, hosted by an Oligocene volcano-sedimentary formation. The Petrified Forest occurs in a deep gorge, east of Momchilgrad, and is represented by petrified wood remains occ...

This paper presents the palaeoxylotomical study of silicified wood specimens found in Nanovitsa depression, Eastern Rhodope Mts. In this area, a Petrified Forest has been described, hosted by an Oligocene volcano-sedimentary formation. The Petrified Forest occurs in a deep gorge, east of Momchilgrad, and is represented by petrified wood remains occ...

After publication of the Catalogue of the Cenozoic plants of Bulgaria, researches into the fossil flora have continued unfailingly. Consequently, 24 new taxa have been registered for Bulgaria and over 20 of the so far known ones have been revised. Four new local paleofloras were studied and three old collections were supplemented with new fossil ma...

A profile 63 m thick in the Late Miocene in the Gotse-Delchev Basin (SW Bulgaria) was sampled for pollen analysis in the Kanina opencast mine. The exposed sequence comprises a basal unit with brown coal-clay cycles and clayey/siliciclastic cover layers partly representing a lacustrine facies. A total of 60 pollen samples were analyzed, but quantita...

The genus Ceratophyllum is represented in the Bulgarian Neogene flora by four species determined in eight local palaeofloras from Western Bulgaria. Stratigraphically they are distributed from the Volhynian to the border be-tween Pontian and Dacian. Of particular importance is C. balcanicum, found only in the early Pontian flora of Melnik, because i...

The genus Ceratophyllum is represented in the Bulgarian Neogene flora by four species determined in eight local palaeofloras from Western Bulgaria. Stratigraphically they are distributed from the Volhynian to the border between Pontian and Dacian. Of particular importance is C. balcanicum, found only in the early Pontian flora of Melnik, because it...

Recent studies carried out into the flora-bearing sediments of Beli Breg Lignite Basin have provided a total of 19 identified taxa at the species level, 13 of them new for that site. The new results confirm dominance of the Fagaceae family and high diversity of genus Quercus in the palaeoflora. Quercus gigas, Q. aff. acrodonta and genus Euonymus ar...

Leaf imprints determined by Palamarev and Petkova (1994) as Eugenia splendens PETRESCU et al. 1976 have been re-examined in detail. On the basis of that analysis, we found that analogical types in the Bulgarian fossil flora had been already determined as Eucalyptus oceanica UNGER, as well as Periploca cf. kryshtofovichii KORN. After detailed compar...

Specimens preserved as coalified compressions of a fern pinna part were investigated. The fossils represent imprints of sterile pinnule – a part of prob-ably two-or tripinnate leaf with 7 pinnule segments preserved. Based on the shape of the pinnule segments, their venation and margin features, these fossils can be assigned to the genus Botrychium...

A late Miocene paludal to lacustrine sequence from a carbonate basin in NW Bulgaria (Staniantsi Basin) is analysed displaying up to 27 rhythmically bedded sedimentary cycles. In the lower part of the sequence, the cycles consist of alternating autochthonous brown coal and marls containing diverse mollusc assemblages. The upper part of the sequence...

The Bulgarian Palaeogene flora reveals important information concerning floristic transformation and climatic change in southeastern Europe. After the Eocene/Oligocene transition, an invasion of arctotertiary floristic elements took place in the European vegetation. This climatically forced, gradual change from a palaeotropical to an arctotertiary...

Thirteen new taxa for the fossil flora of Dospei Basin, Samokov district (SW Bulgaria) are reported. One of them Eugenia apollinis is a new for the Bulgarian fossil flora. The species Alnus suborientalis that is represented by the largest number of specimens deserves a special attention. Most of the cited here species have a transitional Oligocene/...

First results of palynological studies on Neogene freshwater deposits of Staniantsi Basin (West Bulgaria, SE Europe) are presented. The basin is rela- tively poorly known with respect to di�erent points of view in geosciences. The age of sediments in Staniantsi Basin covers the time span from the late Miocene to the Pliocene as available geological...

Thirty-eight species of material originating from the uppermost sediments of the Vulche Pole Molasse formation (SE Bulgaria) have been found (two taxa of the same material have been determined up to genus level). The species Myrica kymeana, Zanthoxylum juglandinum and Sapindus graecus have been registered for the first time for the Bulgarian fossil...

The available finds of Trichomanes in the Cenozoic elements on the territory of Europe have been analysed. Some taxa have been revised according to the contemporary nomenclature of the genus, others according to the status quo of the fossil species of the genus adopted in this study. The material described by Stefanow & Jordanow (1932) as Trichoman...

The Neogene sediments of Southeast Bulgaria are poorly studied in terms of palaeobotany. This paper provides new data about the macro- and microflora from the upper undivided part of the Elhovo Formation (Toundzha Basin). Data from current palaeobotanical study contribute to the elucidation of evolution of the local and regional Late Miocene flora,...

All taxa of the Bulgarian Cenozoic macroflora published in the period 1929-2003 are presented. The taxa have been identified as fragments or imprints of plant organs, carpoids and cuticles. Each taxon is presented with its geographical location, and a schematic map of Buglaria features all cited locations. The interval of the stratigraphic distribu...

Th e studied macrofl ora originates from the Neogene sediments in the basin of Toundzha River (Southeast Bulgaria). Th e age of the sediments was determined as Pontian-Pliocene on the basis of some remains of vertebrates. Th e identifi ed macrofl ora comprises 33 species of fossil plants from 16 families. Th e families Juglandaceae, Fagaceae, Salic...

The evolution of family Betulaceae was traced out in the time interval from early Oligocene to late Pliocene on the basis of studied macrofloras on the territory of Bulgaria. The time period comprises floras from different stratigraphic levels: Lower and Upper Oligocene, Middle and Upper Miocene (Badenian – Sarmatian – Maeotian – Pontian), Lower an...

Four Neogene floras from Bulgaria were analyzed from the palaeoecological point of view: Melnik flora, Baldevo flora, Beli Brjag flora and Lozenets flora. These floras originate from relatively well-explored basins in regard of different points of view of the geological science. The age of flora-bearing sediments is Pontian - Romanian as it has bee...

The investigated fossil macroflora originates from the Neogene rocks of the Satovcha Graben, unfolding to the east of Satovcha village (Gotse Delchev district). The component study of the integral research contains a comparative analysis of the Satovcha paleoflora with 11 references European macrofloras. The geological age of the paleoflora has bee...

Four Neogene floras from Bulgaria were analyzed from the palaeoecological point of view: Melnik flora, Baldevo flora, Beli Brjag flora and Lozenets flora. These floras originate from relatively well-explored basins in regard of different points of view of the geological science. The age of flora-bearing sediments is Pontian - Romanian as it has bee...

The investigated fossil macroflora originated from the Neogene rocks of the Satovcha Graben developed southwards of Satovcha village (region of Gotse Delchev). In this part of the overall study a floristic, paleoecological and phytogeographical analysis has been made. In terms of paleofloristics, particularly important are the discovered 6 species...

A floristic, paleoecological and biostratigraphic analysis was made of the fossil flora from Eleshnitsa locality in the westernmost part of the Rhodopi Mts. Four types of paleocoenoses were differentiated, with the most important role assigned to the hygromesophytic to mesophytic forest communities and the coastal palm communities. The vegetation r...

A floristic, paleoecological and biostratigraphic analysis was made of the fossil flora from Eleshnitsa locality in the westernmost part of the Rhodopi Mts. Four types of paleocoenoses were differentiated, with the most important role assigned to the hygromesophytic to mesophytic forest communities and the coastal palm communities. The vegetation r...

The main trends in the development of the floras and vegetation of Bulgaria during the range Chattian – Villafranchian are analyzed. Differentiation of nine palaeofloristic types is done. Taking into account the data from the macro- and microfloras, these types are treated from palaeofloristic, palaeocological and phytogeographic point of view. Six...

Studies have been done on leaf impressions belonging to Macclintockia basinervis from Middle Miocene sediments in the Western Rhodopes. New facts related to the history of genus Macclintockia have been presented.

The object of the study is Davallia haidingeri E t t., a new species to Bulgarian flora. The species was found in Middle-Miocene rocks to Satovcha Graben (Southwestern Bulgaria). Ichnophytological and palynological methods were applied. The spores isolated from the sori of the fossil material are defined as Polipodiispories alienus (R. P o t. 1931)...

The taxonomic composition has been established and the development has been traced back of genus Acer L. in the Tertiaty flora of Bulgaria. The palaeofloristic data up to now, prove the existence of 15 species belonging to 8 sections: Acer. Goniocarpa, Ginnala, Rubra, Campestria, Platanoidea, Trifoliata and Palmata. Acer protohyrcanum is described...

New data about the stratigraphic and the geographic distribution of the species Macclintockia basinervis in Bulgaria are reported. Up to now this species is known from sites close to villages of Satovcha and Hvoina. The species Cocculus (Macclintockia) canii is revised as Macclintockia basinervis, known from the Hvoina. The site close to the villag...