''Pinus leptokrempfii'' was a species of large-sized

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

in the family

Pinaceae The Pinaceae (), or pine family, are conifer trees or shrubs, including many of the well-known conifers of commercial importance such as Cedrus, cedars, firs, Tsuga, hemlocks, Pinyon_pine, piñons, larches, pines and spruces. The family is incl ...

. It was an early relative of ''

Pinus krempfii ''Pinus krempfii'', or Krempf's pine, is a rare species of pine, endemic to the central highlands of Vietnam in the Da Lat–Nha Trang area. It is unusual in that it has flat needles. Because of this anomaly, it is put in its own subsection, ...

'', being present in the Oligocene Period. The

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species had shorter, narrower needles than ''Pinus krempfii'', which is where the name "leptokrempfii" derived for "lepto" means "short and narrow". The first specimens were described in the

Yunnan Province Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, where

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

s revealed the noticeable trait of flat needles, like ''Pinus krempfii''. ''Pinus krempfii'' evolved to survive in warmer climates, such as northern

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, where it broke off of ''Pinus leptokrempfii'' after the Oligocene Period. The fossils of the species were discovered by Jian-Wei Zhang ( Chinese botanist) in 2021, and was eventually placed in the ''Pinus'' subsect. ''Krempfianae''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107311837 leptokrempfii