Anaspermum E.M.FRIIS, P.R.CRANE et K.R.PEDERSEN, 2019

Friis, Else Marie, Crane, Peter R. & Pedersen, Kaj Raunsgaard, 2019, The Early Cretaceous Mesofossil Flora Of Torres Vedras (Ne Of Forte Da Forca), Portugal: A Palaeofloristic Analysis Of An Early Angiosperm Community, Fossil Imprint 75 (2), pp. 153-257 : 176

Genus Anaspermum E.M.FRIIS, P.R.CRANE et K.R.PEDERSEN gen. nov.

T y p e. Designated here, Anaspermum operculatum

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

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.

PFN000454 (for new genus).

E t y m o l o g y. From the similarity to seeds of extant ANA grade angiosperms (A mborellaceae, N ymphaeales, A ustrobaileyales).

D i a g n o s i s. Seeds small, anatropous, apparently bitegmic and exotestal, occurring isolated and singly. Seeds bilaterally symmetrical with a dorsiventral plane of symmetry. Seed surface smooth without longitudinal ridges. Course of raphe seen on the surface of the seed as a slightly raised ridge. Micropyle and hilar scar closely spaced on a small cap-like structure. Exotesta of short sclerenchyma cells with undulate anticlinal walls, resulting in stellateundulate facets and a jigsaw puzzle-like pattern on the seed surface.

C o m m e n t s o n t h e g e n u s.Seedsof Anaspermum resemble many of the anatropous exotestal seeds described from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal and Virginia, USA, such as Gastonispermum and Pazliopsis (see above). However, seeds of Anaspermum are distinct in having the outer layer of the seed coat composed of short, flattened, rather than palisade-shaped, cells and the hilar scar and micropyle borne on a cap-like structure.