Lambertiflora elegans E.M.FRIIS, P.R.CRANE et K.R.PEDERSEN, 2020

Friis, Else Marie, Crane, Peter R. & Pedersen, Kaj Raunsgaard, 2020, Multiparted, Apocarpous Flowers From The Early Cretaceous Of Eastern North America And Portugal, Fossil Imprint 76 (2), pp. 279-296 : 283-286

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.37520/fi.2020.023

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/6435F619-7865-3A40-FC66-D49D81C8605B

treatment provided by

Diego

scientific name

Lambertiflora elegans E.M.FRIIS, P.R.CRANE et K.R.PEDERSEN
status

sp. nov.

Lambertiflora elegans E.M.FRIIS, P.R.CRANE et K.R.PEDERSEN sp. nov.

Text-figs 3a–e View Text-fig , 4a–c View Text-fig

H o l o t y p e. Designated here. PP53796 (Puddledock sample 082; figured Text-figs 3a–e View Text-fig , 4a–c View Text-fig ).

P l a n t F o s s i l N a m e s R e g i s t r y N u m b e r.

PFN000905 (for new species).

R e p o s i t o r y. Paleobotanical Collections, Department of Geology, Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA (PP).

E t y m o l o g y. From the slender, elegant shape of the fossil.

T y p e l o c a l i t y. Puddledock , former Tarmac Lone Star Industries (Vulcan Materials) sand and gravel pit, located south of Richmond and east of the Appomattox River in Prince George County, Virginia, USA (37° 15′ 52″ N, 77° 22′ 10″ W) GoogleMaps .

T y p e s t r a t u m a n d a g e. Basal part of Subzone IIB, Potomac Group; Early Cretaceous (early to middle Albian).

D i a g n o s i s. As for the genus.

D i m e n s i o n s. Length of flower bud (stalk excluded):

1.3 mm; diameter: 0.75 mm.

D e s c r i p t i o n a n d r e m a r k s.Thespeciesisbased on a single, charcoalified, three-dimensionally preserved flower bud ( Text-figs 3a–e View Text-fig , 4a–c View Text-fig ). The bud is borne on a long slender pedicel ( Text-fig. 3a View Text-fig ) and was probably solitary. It is preserved at an early developmental stage and charcoalification has also caused many of the cell walls to burst. As a result details of the androecium and gynoecium are not clear ( Text-figs 3c–e View Text-fig , 4a–c View Text-fig ).

The perianth is the best preserved part of the flower bud. It consists of about 30 narrowly elongate tepals with rhomboidal bases ( Text-figs 3a–e View Text-fig , 4a–c View Text-fig ). Tepals are undifferentiated and arranged spirally, in several series. The androecium consists of many parts, but the early developmental stage at which the flower bud was preserved, together with the nature of the preservation, precludes establishing the precise number of stamens and their arrangement ( Text-figs 3c–e View Text-fig , 4a–c View Text-fig ). For the same reason, information on anthers and dehiscence mode is also lacking. The gynoecium appears to be preserved only as crowded poorly developed carpels (possible carpel primordia) on the conical receptacle ( Text-figs 3d, e View Text-fig , 4a, b View Text-fig ).

All tissues of the floral bud contain a number of larger, rounded cells that are probably secretory. These are densely spaced inside the tissues of the floral bud and are also seen on the surface of the tepals and pedicel where the cells have burst open ( Text-figs 3d, e View Text-fig , 4a–c View Text-fig ).

T

Tavera, Department of Geology and Geophysics

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