Teebacia sp., 2019

Friis, Else Marie, Crane, Peter R., Pedersen, Kaj Raunsgaard, Mendes, Mário Miguel & Kvaček, Jiří, 2022, The Early Cretaceous Mesofossil Flora Of Catefica, Portugal: Angiosperms, Fossil Imprint 78 (2), pp. 341-424 : 387

Teebacia sp.

Text-fig. 31c–e

Description and remarks. The material consists of several isolated pollen grains observed adhering to the outer surface of a flower of Saportanthus parvus (Textfig. 31c–e). The pollen grains are small, about 14 µm long, almost circular in equatorial outline, and monocolpate. The colpus is partly concealed and its full length is unknown, but it does not extend beyond the equator. The exine is semitectate-reticulate and columellate ( Text-fig. 31e ). The reticulum is coarse and heterobrochate with lumina of various sizes ( Text-fig. 31e ). The muri have a rounded profile and are prominently ornamented with narrow, transverse ridges that extend laterally ( Text-fig. 31e ). Columellae are scattered with fine granular ornamentation ( Text-fig. 31e ).

Affinity and other occurrences.Thegenus Teebacia was established for anthers with in situ pollen from the Torres Vedras locality ( Friis et al. 2019a). The pollen grains from Catefica are closely similar in their overall appearance to pollen of the type species, Teebacia hughesii E. M. FRIIS, P. R. CRANE et K. R.PEDERSEN, but the Catefica grains are smaller and the transverse ribbing of the muri is coarser and more pronounced. The Catefica pollen is more similar to grains recorded from the Vale de Água mesofossil flora as “Pollen Type I.1” that are 13–14 µm in diameter and that show similar coarse transverse ribbing on the muri ( Friis et al. 1999).

Figures

Text-fig. 31. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of isolated pollen of Piercipollis sp. (a, b) and Teebacia sp. (c–e); Catefica locality, Portugal. a) Isolated pollen grain (arrow) adhering to the much larger pollen of Araucariacites sp. in fragment of a conifer cone; note the size difference between the angiosperm and conifer pollen that is typical in Early Cretaceous floras; b) Pollen grain in (a) enlarged showing the extended aperture and homobrochate reticulum with smooth muri supported by long, scattered, columellae; c) Isolated pollen grains adhering to the outer surface of a Saportanthus parvus flower; d) Pollen grain in (c) enlarged showing the open reticulum and muri ornamented by fine transverse ribs; e) Detail of pollen grain in (d) showing the muri supported by long, scattered columellae; note the fine transverse ribs on the muri. Specimens, Catefica 49-S170139-01 (a, b), Catefica 361-S174322-01 (c–e). Scale bars = 50 Μm (a), 20 Μm (c), 6 Μm (b, d), 1.5 Μm (e).