Ditrichaceae LIMPR.

Bomfleur, Benjamin, Hedenäs, Lars, Friis, Else Marie, Crane, Peter R., Raunsgaard, Kaj, Pedersen, Mendes, Mário Miguel & Kvaček, Jiří, 2023, Fossil Mosses From The Early Cretaceous Catefica Mesofossil Flora, Portugal - A Window Into The Mesozoic History Of Bryophytes, Fossil Imprint 79 (2), pp. 103-125 : 114-116

cf. Ditrichaceae LIMPR.

In addition to the fragments of moss shoots described above a single spore capsule (S266084, fig. 9) is known but cannot be linked to any of the vegetative remains. The spore capsule is 1.7 mm long, including 0.2 mm remaining of the lid ( Text-fig. 9a, b ). Externally the spore capsule is well preserved ( Text-fig. 9a–d ) but internal details are unclear

( Text-fig. 9e, f ). The apex of the operculum is also not present, which precludes more exact systematic placement.

Several stomata are present at the base of the spore capsule

( Text-fig. 9d ), which precludes close relationship with extant

Tetraphis HEDW. , which has spore capsules of similar shape but that lack stomata. The spore capsule certainly belongs to a species of acrocarpous moss and is similar to spore capsules of many members of extant Ditrichaceae or the

Pottiaceae . According to Liu et al. (2019) these two families both belong to Dicranales .

Figures

Text-fig. 9. Synchrotron radiation X-ray tomographic microscopy (SRXTM) images (volume renderings, a–d; orthoslices, e, f) of spore capsule of cf. Ditrichaceae sp. from the Early Cretaceous Catefica mesofossil flora, Almargem Formation, Portugal. a, b. Both sides of complete spore capsule. c) Detail of distal portion of spore capsule with basal portion of lid remaining. d) Detail of proximal portion of spore capsule showing stomata (arrows). e) Longitudinal section (orthoslice xz1170) through distal portion of spore capsule showing basal portion of lid. f) Transverse section (orthoslice xy0815) through distal portion of spore capsule showing a thick-walled exothecium and the internal unstructured remains of the spore sack with contents. Specimen, Catefica 49- S266084. Scale bars = 1 mm (a, b), 200 µm (c–e), 100 µm (f).