Piercipollis sp., E. M. FRIIS, P. R. CRANE et K. R. PEDERSEN, 2019

Friis, Else Marie, Crane, Peter R., Pedersen, Kaj Raunsgaard, Mendes, Mário Miguel & Kvaček, Jiří, 2022, The Early Cretaceous Mesofossil Flora Of Catefica, Portugal: Angiosperms, Fossil Imprint 78 (2), pp. 341-424 : 385-386

Piercipollis sp.

Text-fig. 31a, b

Description and remarks. The material comprises two isolated pollen grains, one observed as a contaminant in a cluster of Araucariacites pollen ( Text-fig. 31a, b), and another included in a coprolite (not illustrated). The pollen grain illustrated is monocolpate, small, almost circular in equatorial outline, about 14–18 µm in diameter. The colpus is long, extending to the equator and has clearly delimited margins ( Text-fig. 31b ). The exine is semitectatereticulate and columellate. The reticulum is coarse and homobrochate with polygonal to rounded lumina up to about 0.15 µm in diameter. Muri are smooth with a slightly rounded profile and long, scattered columellae ( Text-fig. 31b ).

Affinity and other occurrences.Thepollen grains resemble pollen of Piercipollis simplex E.M.FRIIS, P.R.CRANE et K.R.PEDERSEN described from the Torres Vedras locality ( Friis et al. 2019a), but the reticulum is more dense and the lumen are smaller, more like the lumen in grains of Piercipollis sp. 2, also from the Torres Vedras locality ( Friis et al. 2019a).

Figures

Text-fig. 31. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of isolated pollen of Piercipollis sp. (a, b) and Teebacia sp. (c–e); Catefica locality, Portugal. a) Isolated pollen grain (arrow) adhering to the much larger pollen of Araucariacites sp. in fragment of a conifer cone; note the size difference between the angiosperm and conifer pollen that is typical in Early Cretaceous floras; b) Pollen grain in (a) enlarged showing the extended aperture and homobrochate reticulum with smooth muri supported by long, scattered, columellae; c) Isolated pollen grains adhering to the outer surface of a Saportanthus parvus flower; d) Pollen grain in (c) enlarged showing the open reticulum and muri ornamented by fine transverse ribs; e) Detail of pollen grain in (d) showing the muri supported by long, scattered columellae; note the fine transverse ribs on the muri. Specimens, Catefica 49-S170139-01 (a, b), Catefica 361-S174322-01 (c–e). Scale bars = 50 Μm (a), 20 Μm (c), 6 Μm (b, d), 1.5 Μm (e).