Scanning electron microscopy investigation of monads and tetrads of basal core eudicots from the Upper Cretaceous Vilui Basin, Siberia: Evidence for reticulate evolution

Hofmann, Christa-Charlotte; Spicer, Robert A.; Ahlberg, Anders and Herman, Alexei B. (2011). Scanning electron microscopy investigation of monads and tetrads of basal core eudicots from the Upper Cretaceous Vilui Basin, Siberia: Evidence for reticulate evolution. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 167(3-4) pp. 196–211.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2011.08.007

Abstract

Non-marine Late Cretaceous sediments from the Vilui Basin, Siberia, yield a diverse palynoflora of over 180 taxa, a third of which had a circum-polar distribution. The Vilui palynoflora belongs generally to the northerly Aquilapollenites Province admixed with minute Normapolles types, and comprises about 36–70% angiosperm pollen forms, indicating a late Campanian/early Maastrichtian age. Using a combination of light and scanning electron microscopy we examined well-known stratigraphic taxa such as Aquilapollenites mtchedlishvilii Srivastava, Aquilapollenites decorus Srivastava, Azonia recta Bolkhovitina and Tricerapollis minutus Chlonova. Further we present pollen belonging to early eudicots such as Saxifragales (Cercidiphyllaceae, Altingiaceae and Hamamelidaceae), basal eudicots (? Buxaceae) and basal core eudicots (?Gunnerales) that are preserved as colpate or porate forms, some of which are preserved as obligate tetrads, such as the morphogenera Virgo Ward, Artiopollis (Agasie) Singh, and Senectoteradites Dettmann while others are preserved as single grains or in pollen aggregations, such as Periporopollenites (Potonié) Pflug &Thomson, Retitricolpites (van der Hammen) Pierce and unnamed tricolpate types. The following new species are introduced: Virgo nicholsii, Artiopollis tyungensis, Artiopollis bellus, Periporopollenites sakhaensis, and Senectotetradites viluiensis. Our approach revealed features suggesting that individual grain types exhibit affiliations to more than one extant family. This mirrors trans-familial characters also observed in Late Cretaceous leaf fossils and is typical of reticulate evolution.

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About

• Item ORO ID
• 31765
• Item Type
• Journal Item
• ISSN
• 0034-6667
• Project Funding Details

• Funded Project Name	Project ID	Funding Body
  Not Set	Not Set	RFBS/INTAS [950949]
  Not Set	Not Set	Open University Alumni Fund
  Not Set	Not Set	Royal Physiographical Society, Sweden
  Not Set	Not Set	Russian Foundation for Basic Research [09-05-00107]
  Not Set	Not Set	Chinese Academy of Sciences [2009S1-20]

• Keywords
• Upper Cretaceous; Vilui Basin; basal eudicots; SEM; reticulate evolution
• Academic Unit or School
• Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) > Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences
  Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
• Copyright Holders
• © 2011 Elsevier
• Depositing User
• Robert Spicer