Aquillapollenites is an extinct morphogenus of Late Cretaceous angiosperm pollen grain. Aquillapollenites was a very large group containing something like 80 total species, but all of them were typified by their triprojectate structure: three processes extend from the equator of the pollen grain and one process extends upwards to each pole, giving Aquillapollenites the shape of a child's jack. This strange shape may improve the buoyancy of the pollen grain. Colpi occupy each terminus of the equatorial projectates, making Aquillapollenites tricolporate. [1]
Aquillapollenities was mostly extinct by the end of the Cretaceous, but a few species survive across the K-T boundary into the Eocene Epoch. [2] North America's northern animal biome approximately correspond with the Aquillapollenites palynofloral province. [3]
It has been suggested that Aquillapollenites is a pollen type produced by an extinct member of the mistletoe family, but this remains uncertain. [1]
Ginkgoales are a gymnosperm order containing only one extant species: Ginkgo biloba, the ginkgo tree. The order has a long fossil record extending back to the Early Permian around 300 million years ago from fossils found worldwide.
Cycads are seed plants that typically have a stout and woody (ligneous) trunk with a crown of large, hard, stiff, evergreen and (usually) pinnate leaves. The species are dioecious, that is, individual plants of a species are either male or female. Cycads vary in size from having trunks only a few centimeters to several meters tall. They typically grow very slowly and live very long. Because of their superficial resemblance to palms or ferns, they are sometimes mistaken for them, but they are not closely related to either group. Cycads are gymnosperms (naked-seeded), meaning their unfertilized seeds are open to the air to be directly fertilized by pollination, as contrasted with angiosperms, which have enclosed seeds with more complex fertilization arrangements. Cycads have very specialized pollinators, usually a specific species of beetle. Both male and female cycads bear cones (strobili), somewhat similar to conifer cones.
Araucariaceae – also known as Araucarians – is a family of coniferous trees, with three living genera, Araucaria, Agathis, and Wollemia. While the family was a common component of the flora globally during the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Paleogene periods, in their native distribution they are now largely confined to the Southern Hemisphere, except for a few species of Agathis in Malesia.
Glossopteris is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct Permian order of seed plants known as Glossopteridales. The name Glossopteris refers only to leaves, within the framework of form genera used in paleobotany.
Ctenolophon is the only genus in the flowering plant family Ctenolophonaceae. It has two recognized species:
Hicksbeachia is a genus of two species of trees in the family Proteaceae. They are native to rainforests of northern New South Wales and southeastern Queensland. They are commonly known as red bopple nut or beef nut due to the bright red colour of their fruits.
Archaeamphora longicervia is a fossil plant species, the only member of the hypothetical genus Archaeamphora. Fossil material assigned to this taxon originates from the Yixian Formation of northeastern China, dated to the Early Cretaceous.
Droseridites is a genus of extinct plants of possible droseracean or nepenthacean affinity. It is a form taxon known only from fossil pollen. Species assigned to this genus originate from numerous regions of the world, including Europe, India, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Kerguelen Islands.
Normapolles is an extinct angiosperm pollen group that arose in the Cenomanian. Normapolles persisted until the early Oligiocene Epoch but were reduced in diversity by the early Eocene Epoch. Normapolles were widespread in the Late Cretaceous of southern and eastern North America and Europe up to the West Siberian Plain between 56°N and 36°N, collectively referred to as the "Normapolles Province".
The Princeton Chert is a fossil locality in British Columbia, Canada, which comprises an anatomically preserved flora of Eocene Epoch age, with rich species abundance and diversity. It is located in exposures of the Allenby Formation on the east bank of the Similkameen River, 8.5 km (5.3 mi) south of the town of Princeton, British Columbia.
Mennegoxylon, commonly referred to as snakewood, is a genus of now extinct trees exhibiting a cell structure resembling snake skin when viewed in cross section. Mennegoxylon is found in the Eocene age Yegua Formation of Texas and Louisiana, USA. Specifically, many examples of snakewood have been found in College Station, Texas.
The Allenby formation is a sedimentary rock formation in British Columbia which was deposited during the Ypresian stage of the Early Eocene. It consists of conglomerates, sandstones with interbedded shales and coal. The shales contain an abundance of insect, fish and plant fossils known from 1877 and onward, while the Princeton Chert was first indented in the 1950s and is known from anatomically preserved plants.
Macginitiea is an extinct genus in the family Platanaceae ranging from the Late Paleocene to Late Eocene of North America, known from the Clarno Formation of central Oregon. The genus is strictly used to describe leaves, but has been found in close association with other fossil platanoid organs, which collectively have been used for whole plant reconstructions. Macginitiea and its associated organs are important as together they comprise one of the most well-documented and ubiquitous fossil plants, particularly in the Paleogene of North America.
Circumpolles is a gymnosperm pollen type that is important in biostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. It characterizes the time between the middle Triassic to the middle Cretaceous Periods. This pollen has a unique morphology: it has a circular, equatorial colpus, which divides the pollen grain into two hemispheres. Circumpolles is also unique as it is the only gymnosperm with well developed nexinal columellae.
Betula leopoldae is an extinct species of birch in the family Betulaceae. The species is known from fossil leaves, catkins, and inflorescences found in the early Eocene deposits of northern Washington state, United States, and similar aged formations in British Columbia, Canada. The species is placed as basal in Betula, either as a stem group species, or an early divergent species.
Ctenis is a genus of fossil foliage attributable to the Cycadales, being one of the most common genera of cycad fossil leaves in the Mesozoic.
This article records new taxa of fossil plants that are scheduled to be described during the year 2021, as well as other significant discoveries and events related to paleobotany that are scheduled to occur in the year 2021.
Fagus langevinii is an extinct species of beech in the family Fagaceae. The species is known from fossil fruits, nuts, pollen, and leaves found in the early Eocene deposits of South central British Columbia, and northern Washington state, United States.
Komlopteris is an extinct genus of "seed fern" with possible corystosperm affinities. Fossils have been found across both hemispheres, dating from the latest Triassic to the early Eocene (Ypresian), making it the youngest "seed fern" in the fossil record.
Frenelopsis is a genus of extinct conifers belonging to the family Cheirolepidiaceae that lived throughout the Cretaceous period ranging from the Berriasian to the Maastrichtian stages, containing a total of 18 species. It is a form classification describing the shoots of the plant, and is accompanied by the genera Classopollis, Classostrobus, and Alvinia. These represent the pollen, male cones, and female cones respectively. They are likely to have been a major source of lignite in Cretaceous deposits.