Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains, which produce male gametes. Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophytes during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants, or from the male cone to the female cone of gymnosperms. If pollen lands on a compatible pistil or female cone, it germinates, producing a pollen tube that transfers the sperm to the ovule containing the female gametophyte. Individual pollen grains are small enough to require magnification to see detail. The study of pollen is called palynology and is highly useful in paleoecology, paleontology, archaeology, and forensics. Pollen in plants is used for transferring haploid male genetic material from the anther of a single flower to the stigma of another in cross-pollination. In a case of self-pollination, this process takes place from the anther of a flower to the stigma of the same flower.
The Urticaceae are a family, the nettle family, of flowering plants. The family name comes from the genus Urtica. The Urticaceae include a number of well-known and useful plants, including nettles in the genus Urtica, ramie, māmaki, and ajlai.
George O. Poinar Jr. is an American entomologist and writer. He is known for popularizing the idea of extracting DNA from insects fossilized in amber, an idea which received widespread attention when adapted by Michael Crichton for the book and movie Jurassic Park.
Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic derived from resin of the extinct tree Hymenaea protera.
Myriocarpa is a genus woody plant which ranges in size from shrubs to small trees and is endemic to Central and South America. Within the Urticaceae, Myriocarpa is characterized by long pendulous string-like female inflorescences of apparently naked flowers and stems which release a watery latex when cut. Estimates for the diversity of the genus range from five to eighteen species. Research for Flora Mesoamericana indicates that there are probably fifteen to twenty species.
Florissantia is an extinct genus of flowering plants in the Malvaceae subfamily Sterculioideae known from western North America and far eastern Asia. Flower, fruit, and pollen compression fossils have been found in formations ranging from the Early Eocene through to the Early Oligocene periods. The type species is Florissantia speirii and three additional species are known, Florissantia ashwillii, Florissantia quilchenensis, and Florissantia sikhote-alinensis.
Palaeoraphe is an extinct genus of palms, represented by one species, Palaeoraphe dominicana from early Miocene Burdigalian stage Dominican amber deposits on the island of Hispaniola, in the modern-day Dominican Republic.
Oreocallis is a South American plant genus in the family Proteaceae. There is only one species, Oreocallis grandiflora, which is native to mountainous regions in Peru and Ecuador.
Termitaradus dominicanus is an extinct species of termite bug in the family Termitaphididae known from a Miocene fossil found on Hispaniola. T. dominicanus is the third species in the genus Termitaradus to have been described from fossils found in Dominican amber after Termitaradus avitinquilinus and Termitaradus mitnicki.
Termitaradus protera is an extinct species of termite bug in the family Termitaphididae known from several Late Oligocene to Early Miocene fossils found in Mexico. T. protera is the only species in the extant genus Termitaradus to have been described from fossils found in Mexican amber and is one of four species from new world amber; the others are Termitaradus avitinquilinus, Termitaradus dominicanus and Termitaradus mitnicki. T. protera was also the first termite bug described from the fossil record.
Hymenaea mexicana is an extinct legume species in the family Fabaceae described from a series of isolated fossil petals, leaflets, and amber. The species is known from a group of Late Oligocene to Early Miocene locations in southern Mexico. It is one of two extinct Hymenaea species placed close to the living species Hymenaea verrucosa and along with Hymenaea allendis, is one of the two extinct species which have been found in Mexican amber.
Hymenaea allendis is an extinct legume species in the family Fabaceae described from a single isolated fossil flower in amber. The species is known from a Late Oligocene to Early Miocene location in southern Mexico. Unlike the coeval extinct species Hymenaea mexicana and Hymenaea protera which are placed closer to the living species Hymenaea verrucosa of Africa, H. allendis is closer in relation to the neotropical species of Hymenaea.
Aphaenogaster praerelicta is an extinct species of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae known from a solitary Late Oligocene to Early Miocene fossil found in Mexico. At the time of description A. praerelicta was one of three Aphaenogaster species known from Mexico.
Formicodiplogaster is an extinct form genus of nematodes in the family Diplogasteridae which currently includes a single described species Formicodiplogaster myrmenema. The species is known from early Miocene fossils found on Hispaniola. F. myrmenema has been preserved in association with Azteca alpha, one of only two known fossil species in the ant genus Azteca.
Azteca alpha is an extinct species of ant in the subfamily Dolichoderinae known from possibly Miocene fossils found on Hispaniola. A. alpha is one of only two species in the genus Azteca to have been described from fossils, both found in Dominican amber. It is the host for a fossil nematode, and has been preserved with scale insects.
Feroseta is an extinct genus of mantidfly in the neuropteran family Mantispidae known from a fossil found in North America, and which contains a single species, Feroseta prisca.
This article contains papers in paleobotany that were published in 2016.
Ekrixanthera hispaniolae is a species of extinct plant first described from fossilised flowers from Dominican amber. It has staminate flowers on short pedicels that are pentamerous, with a pilose pistillode, plus heteromorphic pilose tepals. Differentiating it from Ekrixanthera ehecatli are the presence or absence of a pedicel, the heterotrophic tepals, and the presence or absence of pilosity of its pistillode and tepals. Additionally, the latter characters added to the pentamerous flowers separate the two fossil species from extant genera. Its floral structures indicate an explosive manner of pollen release as well as anemophily. Lepidopterans feeding on this species is suspected during the mid-Tertiary.
Enischnomyia is an extinct genus of bat fly in the family Streblidae. At the time of its description the new genus comprised a single species, Enischnomyia stegosoma, known from a single Miocene fossil found on Hispaniola. E. stegosoma was the first fossil streblid bat fly described from a fossil, and the only member of the subfamily Nycterophiliinae described from Hispaniola. The species is host for the plasmodiid Vetufebrus ovatus preserved in its salivary glands and midgut.
Ekrixanthera is a genus of extinct plants in the family Urticaceae, tribe Boehmerieae, first described from fossilized flowers from amber. Two species were described:
