Mahogany Wood

Mahogany Wood With Birds’ Breeding Burrows Carapoxylon ortenburgense

Neogene: Miocene: Upper Burdigalian,
approx. 19 Mio. years old
Rauscheröd in Ortenburg, Lower Bavaria, Bavaria, Germany

Fossil woods of the genus Carapoxylon of the mahogany family (Melicaceae) are known mainly from the Ottnangian to the Badeian (Miocene) of Central Europe (Northern Alpine Molasse Basin). The closest modern relatives of this characteristic wood type are found in the South American genus Carapa and the African Xylocarpus and Entandrophragma.

The special feature of our museum’s trunk is that it contains several breeding burrows belonging to bearded birds (Capitonidae).

Gift from the Friends of the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology Munich e.V.

SNSB-BSPG 1979 XV 2
Original