In situ spores of lycophytes from the Anisian Kuhwiesenkopf/Monte Pra della Vacca flora in northern Italy

Nowak, Hendrik; Kustatscher, Evelyn; Roghi, Guido und Konijnenburg-van Cittert, Johanna H. A. van (2022): In situ spores of lycophytes from the Anisian Kuhwiesenkopf/Monte Pra della Vacca flora in northern Italy. In: Botany Letters, Bd. 170, Nr. 2: S. 194-207

Abstract

Four species of lycophytes have been described from the palaeoflora of the Anisian Dont Formation at the Kuhwiesenkopf/Monte Pra della Vacca section in the Dolomites (northern Italy);Isoetites brandneri, Lepacyclotes bechstaedtii (both Isoetaceae), Selaginellites leonardii (Selaginellaceae), and Lycopia dezanchei (order and family indet.). For I. brandneri and S. leonardii, in situ spores have also been reported. We have now restudied in situ material from all four species with a focus on the morphological variability of the spores. Microspores and a single megaspore from L. dezanchei and possible poorly preserved microspores from L. bechstaedtii are described for the first time. The microspores from a paratype of I. brandneri proved to be highly variable and unusual, generally with an elliptical (bilobed) cingulum/zona that resembles the sacci of bisaccate pollen. In addition, both micro- and megaspores from a specimen previously assigned to I. brandneri showed considerable differences to those from the paratype, suggesting a biologically distinct species.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Geowissenschaften > Department für Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 550 Geowissenschaften, Geologie
• ISSN: 2381-8107
• Sprache: Englisch