Droseridites

Droseridites
Temporal range: Cretaceous?–Miocene
Photomicrographs of D. echinosporus pollen taken at 1000× magnification
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Droseraceae (?)
Genus: †Droseridites
Cookson (1947) ex R.Potonié (1960)
Type species
Droseridites spinosus
(Cookson) R.Potonié (1960)
Species
  • Droseridites baculatus Ibrahim (1996)
  • Droseridites echinosporus R.Potonié (1954)
  • Droseridites major Krutzsch (1970)
  • Droseridites parvus Dutta & Sah (1970)
  • Droseridites senonicus Jardiné & Magloire (1965)
  • Droseridites spinosus (Cookson) R.Potonié (1960)

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 (from France to the Caucasus),[1] India,[2] Egypt,[3] the Arabian Peninsula,[4] and the Kerguelen Islands.[5]

This genus is characterised by inaperturate and spinose pollen grains that are united in loose tetrahedral tetrads (groups of four). The grains are prolate, striate, and tricolpate. The colpi are slender and long, whereas the striae are very fine, densely packed, and situated parallel to the polar axis.[6]

  1. ^ Krutzsch, W. 1985. Über Nepenthes-Pollen im europäischen Tertiär. Gleditschia 13: 89–93.
  2. ^ Saxena, R.K. & G.K. Trivedi 2006. "A Catalogue of Tertiary Spores and Pollen from India" (PDF). Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow.
  3. ^ Ibrahim, M.I.A. 1996. Aptian-Turonian palynology of the Ghazalat-1 Well (GTX-1), Qattara Depression, Egypt. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 94(1–2): 137–168. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(95)00135-2
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ehrendorfer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Meimberg, H., A. Wistuba, P. Dittrich & G. Heubl 2001. Molecular phylogeny of Nepenthaceae based on cladistic analysis of plastid trnK intron sequence data. Plant Biology (Stuttgart) 3(2): 164–175. doi:10.1055/s-2001-12897
  6. ^ Baksi, S.K. & U. Deb 1976. On Mulleripollis gen. nov., a pollen tetrad from the Upper Cretaceous of the Bengal Basin, West Bengal, India. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 22(1): 73–77. doi:10.1016/0034-6667(76)90012-9