Goczania rugosa E.M.FRIIS, P.R.CRANE et K.R.PEDERSEN, 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 : 368-370

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

Text-fig. 20e–h

Description and remarks. Goczania rugosa is represented in the Catefica mesofossil flora by two anthers and an isolated pollen sac with pollen grains in situ (Textfig. 20e–h). Identical pollen also occurs in pollen clumps and coprolites. The anther is short and broad, about 0.6 mm long and 0.55 mm wide, dithecate and tetrasporangiate ( Text-fig. 20e ). As in the type material from Torres Vedras, the inner wall of the anthers of the Catefica specimen and the in situ pollen grains show numerous small, spherical orbicules with a finely spiny surface ornamentation ( Text-fig. 20f ).

The pollen grains are oblate, circular to elliptical in equatorial outline, about 17 µm in diameter and monocolpate ( Text-fig. 20f–h ). The colpus is short with an irregular margin ( Text-fig. 20h ). The exine is tectate with the tectum covered with densely spaced microechinae that occur singly without merging with their neighbors ( Text-fig. 20f–h ).

Affinity and other occurrences. Pollen of the Goczania type has been found on the stigma and surface of Appomattoxia fruits in the Torres Vedras mesofossil flora and also on fruits of Appofructus E.M.FRIIS, P.R.CRANE et K.R.PEDERSEN from Torres Vedras ( Friis et al. 2019a). Goczania- type pollen has also been found on the stigma and surface of Appomattoxia fruits from the Puddledock mesofossil flora of eastern North America. Appomattoxia and Appofructus are both thought to be related to Piperales ( Friis et al. 1995, 2019a).

Goczania rugosa was first described from the Torres Vedras mesofossil flora ( Friis et al. 2019a) and the anthers with in situ pollen from Catefica are closely similar to the type material. Small differences, such as the slightly larger size of the pollen grains and slightly smoother pollen wall in the Catefica specimens, may be related to differences in preservation, with the Torres Vedras material being slightly more shrunken. Two other species of Goczania occur with Goczania rugosa at Torres Vedras, but they differ in details of the supratectal ornamentation of the pollen wall ( Friis et al. 2019a).

Pollen grains of Goczania rugosa have also been observed in palynological strew preparations of the Catefica microfossil assemblages.

Figures

Text-fig. 20. Synchrotron radiation X-ray tomographic microscopy (SRXTM, a) and scanning electron microscope (SEM, b–h) images of fruits of Appomattoxia sp. (a–d) and anther and pollen of Goczania rugosa (e–h); Catefica locality, Portugal. a) Surface rendering of fruit in lateral view showing densely spaced hairs, some with delicate coiled tips; b) Fruit in lateral view showing short, densely spaced hairs and apical stigmatic region; c, d) Detail of fruit surface and hairs from fruit in (b); e) Fragmentary anther showing four pollen sacs; f) Proximal view of pollen grains from an abraded anther showing microechinate surface of pollen wall and clusters of small, spiny orbicules; g, h) Proximal (g) and distal (h) views of pollen grains from an isolated pollen sac, showing short colpus (h), tectate pollen wall and microechinate surface ornamentation. Specimens, Catefica 49-S174913 (a), Catefica 49-S107794 (b–d), Catefica 50-S170391 (e), Catefica 49-S170138 (f), Catefica 49-S170143 (g, h). Scale bars = 300 Μm (a, b, e), 100 Μm (c), 50 Μm (d), 6 Μm (f–h).