Nicholsia brevicolpites E.M.FRIIS, P.R.CRANE et K.R.PEDERSEN, 2019

Friis, Else Marie, Crane, Peter R. & Pedersen, Kaj Raunsgaard, 2019, The Early Cretaceous Mesofossil Flora Of Torres Vedras (Ne Of Forte Da Forca), Portugal: A Palaeofloristic Analysis Of An Early Angiosperm Community, Fossil Imprint 75 (2), pp. 153-257 : 236

Nicholsia brevicolpites E.M.FRIIS, P.R.CRANE et K.R.PEDERSEN sp. nov.

Text-fig. 53a–d

H o l o t y p e. Designated here. S137906-03 (Torres

Vedras sample 44; figured Text-fig. 53a–d ).

P l a n t F o s s i l N a m e s R e g i s t r y N u m b e r.

PFN000498 (for new species).

R e p o s i t o r y. Palaeobotanical Collections , Department of Palaeobiology, the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden .

E t y m o l o g y. From Latin: brevis and colpus referring to the short colpi.

T y p e l o c a l i t y. Torres Vedras (NE of Forte de

Forca; 39°06′13″ N, 9°14′47″ W).

T y p e s t r a t u m a n d a g e. Lower member of the Almargem Formation; Early Cretaceous (late Barremianearly Aptian).

D i a g n o s i s. As for the genus.

D i m e n s i o n s. Length of pollen grains: about 24–

25 µm; equatorial diameter of pollen grains: about 22 µm.

D e s c r i p t i o n a n d r e m a r k s. Nicholsia brevicolpites is based on grains that occur in a coprolite together with several other kinds of pollen ( Text-fig. 53a ). The pollen grains are small, prolate, with an almost circular equatorial outline, and tricolpate with short colpi ( Text-fig. 53b–d ). The tectum is foveolate to microreticulate with small rounded perforations that are of even size over the main body of the grains ( Text-fig. 53b–d ). The colpi have indistinct margins and a verrucate colpus membrane ( Text-fig. 53b, d ).

A f f i n i t y a n d o t h e r o c c u r r e n c e s. Nicholsia brevicolpites is known only from the Torres Vedras site. The triaperturate pollen grains clearly indicate a relationship to eudicots, but specific relationships to extant taxa within the group are uncertain.

Dispersed pollen with a similar foveolate to microreticulate tectum is reported from the mid-Aptianmid-Albian of Egypt as Punctitri-Fineret ( Penny 1991), but the Egyptian pollen is smaller and has longer colpi.

Figures

Text-fig. 53. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of tricolpate pollen of Nicholsia brevicolpites gen. et sp. nov. from a coprolite containing several kinds of pollen; Torres Vedras locality, Portugal. a) Detail of the coprolite that yielded the tricolpate pollen in this Text-figure showing several different kinds of pollen grains; b–d) Tricolpate pollen grains in polar (b) and equatorial (c, d) views showing colpi, coarsely granular aperture membrane and foveolate tectum. Specimen, TV44-S137906-03 (holotype; a–d). Scale bars 30 Μm (a), 6 Μm (b–d).