Choffaticarpus 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 : 229

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

T y p e. Designated here. Choffaticarpus compactus

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.

PFN000489 (for new genus).

E t y m o l o g y. In honor of the French geologist Paul Choffat in recognition of his important contribution to the Cretaceous geology of Portugal.

D i a g n o s i s. Multicarpellate and apocarpous fruit with densely packed fruitlets borne helically on a long central receptacle. Each fruitlet strongly compressed laterally with flattened sides and a diamond-shaped outer face. Stigma sessile, indistinct. Each fruiting unit containing a single seed. Pollen monocolpate, semitectate and coarsely reticulate with broad scattered columellae.

C o m m e n t s o n t h e g e n u s. Choffaticarpus is distinguished from Reyanthus (described below) by the tight packing of the fruiting units, the lack of oil cells and the much longer receptacle. Archaeanthus linnenbergeri DILCHER et P.R.CRANE from the mid-Cretaceous Dakota Formation ( Dilcher and Crane 1984) has a comparable elongated receptacle with many spirally arranged fruitlets, but is much larger, the fruitlets are loosely arranged along the receptacle, and each fruitlet contains many small seeds. This contrasts with the densely packed, one-seeded fruitlets of Choffaticarpus . Multicarpellate structures from other Early Cretaceous localities remain to be described but some may be related to the dispersed fruiting units of Anacostia E.M.FRIIS, P.R.CRANE et K.R.PEDERSEN described from Portugal and Virginia ( Friis et al. 1997). These multicarpellate structures are comparable to Choffaticarpus in the strongly extended receptacle and the densely packed nature of the apparently one-seeded fruitlets, but these structures are conical rather than elliptical in shape and the individual fruitlets are not laterally flattened as in Choffaticarpus .