Pollen morphology of extant Winteraceae: a study allowing SEM-based affiliation of its fossil representatives
 
More details
Hide details
1
University of Vienna, Department of Palaeontology, Althanstraße 14 (UZA II), 1090 Vienna, Austria
 
2
University of KwaZulu-Natal, School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Carbis Road, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3201, South Africa
 
3
University of the Free State, Department of Plant Sciences, Nelson Mandela Drive, Bloemfontein 9301, South Africa
 
 
Online publication date: 2017-12-19
 
 
Publication date: 2017-12-19
 
 
Acta Palaeobotanica 2017; 57(2): 339-396
 
ABSTRACT
When applying high-resolution microscopy, the pollen morphology of extant taxa can be used to classify fossil pollen, that is, to address the latter in the established systematic-phylogenetic framework. Here we investigate tetrads and pollen features of 20 different Winteraceae species, most of them belonging to the early-diverging generic lineages Tasmannia, Drimys and Pseudowintera. The tetrads and pollen are grouped into eleven pollen types based on diagnostic features observed by both light and scanning electron microscopy. The high-resolution scanning electron micrographs of recent material allow detailed comparison with fossil material, resulting in a more accurate affiliation of fossil tetrads/pollen to extant lineages. As a case study, early Miocene Winteraceae tetrads from South Africa are re-examined and formally described. The systematic placement of the African fossils is discussed in light of the pollen types presented here.
REFERENCES (58)
1.
BAILEY I.W. & NAST C.G. 1943. The comparative morphology of Winteraceae I. Pollen and stamens. J. Arnold Arbor., 24: 340–346.
 
2.
BOMFLEUR B., GRIMM G.W. & MCLOUGHLIN S. 2015. Osmunda pulchella sp. nov. from the Jurassic of Sweden—reconciling molecular and fossil evidence in the phylogeny of modern royal ferns (Osmundaceae). BMC Evol. Biol., 15: 126.
 
3.
COETZEE J.A. 1981. A palynological record of very primitive angiosperms in Tertiary deposits of the south-western Cape Province, South Africa. S. Afr. J. Sci., 77: 341–343.
 
4.
COETZEE J.A. 1983. Intimation on the Tertiary vegetation of southern Africa. Bothalia, 14: 345–354.
 
5.
COETZEE J.A., MULLER J. 1984. The phytogeographic significance of some extinct Gondwana pollen types from the Tertiary of the southwestern Cape (South Africa). Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard., 71: 1088–1099.
 
6.
COETZEE J.A. & PRAGLOWSKI J. 1988. Winteraceae pollen from the Miocene of the southwestern Cape (South Africa). Grana, 27: 27–37.
 
7.
COUPER R.A. 1960. New Zealand Mesozoic and Cainozoic plant microfossils. New Zealand Geological Survey, Palaeontological Bulletin, 32: 1–87.
 
8.
DOUST A.N. & DRINNAN A.N. 2004. Floral development and molecular phylogeny support the generic status of Tasmannia (Winteraceae). Am. J. Bot., 91: 321–331.
 
9.
DOYLE J.A. 2000. Paleobotany, relationships, and geographic history of Winteraceae. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard., 87: 303–316.
 
10.
DOYLE J.A., HOTTON C.L. & WARD J.V. 1990a. Early Cretaceous tetrads, zonasulcate pollen, and Winteraceae. I. Taxonomy, morphology, and ultrastructure. Am. J. Bot., 77: 1544–1557.
 
11.
DOYLE J.A., HOTTON C.L. & WARD J.V. 1990b. Early Cretaceous tetrads, zonosulcate pollen, and Winteraceae. II. Cladistic analysis and implications. Am. J. Bot., 77: 1558–1568.
 
12.
ERDTMAN G. 1952. Pollen Morphology and Taxonomy – Angiosperms (An Introduction to Palynology. I). Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell.
 
13.
FISER J. & WALKER D. 1967. Notes on the pollen morphology of Drimys Forst., section Tasmannia (R. Br.) F. Muell. Pollen et Spores, 9: 229–239.
 
14.
GRÍMSSON F., DENK T. & ZETTER R. 2008. Pollen, fruits, and leaves of Tetracentron (Trochodendraceae) from the Cainozoic of Iceland and western North America and their palaeobiogeographic implications. Grana, 47: 1–14.
 
15.
GRÍMSSON F., GRIMM G.W. & ZETTER R. 2017a. Tiny pollen grains: first evidence of Saururaceae from the Late Cretaceous of western North America. PeerJ, 5: e3434 [e-pub].
 
16.
GRÍMSSON F., KAPLI P., HOFMANN C.-C., ZETTER R. & GRIMM G.W. 2017b. Eocene Loranthaceae pollen pushes back divergence ages for major splits in the family. PeerJ, 5: e3373 [e-pub].
 
17.
GRÍMSSON F., GRIMM G.W., POTTS A.J., ZETTER R. & RENNER S.S. in press. A Winteraceae pollen tetrad from the early Paleocene of western Greenland, and the fossil record of Winteraceae in Laurasia and Gondwana. J. Biogeogr.
 
18.
HENNIG W. 1950. Grundzüge einer Theorie der phylogenetischen Systematik. Dt. Zentralverlag, Berlin.
 
19.
HENNIG W. & SCHLEE D. 1978. Abriß der phylogenetischen Systematik. Stuttg. Beitr. Naturk. A, 319: 1–11.
 
20.
HESSE M., HALBRITTER H., ZETTER R., WEBER M., BUCHNER R., FROSCH-RADIVO A. & ULRICH S. 2009. Pollen terminology – an illustrated handbook. Springer, Wien, New York.
 
21.
KAROL K.G., SUH Y., SCHATZ G.E. & ZIMMER E.A. 2000. Molecular evidence for the phylogenetic position of Takhtajania in the Winteraceae: inference from nuclear ribosomal and chloroplast gene spacer sequences. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard., 87: 414–432.
 
22.
KRUTZSCH W. 1970. Zur Kenntnis fossiler disperser Tetradenpollen. Paläontologische Abh., B: Paläobotanik, 3: 399–430.
 
23.
LEROY J.-F. 1978. Une sous-famille monotypique de Winteraceae endemique a Madagascar: les Takhtajanioideae. Adansonia II, 17: 383–395.
 
24.
LEROY J.-F. 1980. Nouvelles remarques sur le genre Takhtajania (Winteraceae-Takhtajanioideae). Adan­sonia II, 20: 9–20.
 
25.
LOBREAU-CALLEN D. 1977. Le pollen de Bubbia perrieri R. Cap. Ses rapports palynologiques avec les autres genres de Wintéracées. Adansonia, Ser. 2, 16: 445–460.
 
26.
MARQUÍNEZ X., LOHMANN L.G., SALATINO M.L.F., SALATINO A. & GONZÁLEZ F. 2009. Generic relationships and dating lineages in Winteraceae based on nuclear (ITS) and plastid (rpS16 and psbA-trnH) sequence data. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 53: 435–449.
 
27.
MASSONI J., COUVREUR T.L.P. & SAUQUET H. 2015. Five major shifts of diversification through the long evolutionary history of Magnoliidae (angiosperms). BMC Evol. Biol., 15: 49.
 
28.
MILDENHALL D.C. & CROSBIE Y.M. 1979. Some porate pollen from the upper Tertiary of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 22: 499–508.
 
29.
MOAR N.T. 1993. Pollen grains of New Zealand, dicoty­ledonous plants. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln, N.Z.
 
30.
MÜLLER S., SALOMO K., SALAZAR J., NAUMANN J., JARAMILLO M.A., NEINHUIS C., FEILD T.S. & WANKE S. 2015. Intercontinental long-distance dispersal of Canellaceae from the New to the Old World revealed by a nuclear single copy gene and chloroplast loci. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol., 84: 205–219.
 
31.
POTTS A.J. & GRIMM G.W. 2017. Ancestral state reconstruction of seven continuous and 20 categorical pollen traits scored for extant Winteraceae. Supplement to Grímsson et al. „A Winteraceae pollen tetrad from the early Paleocene of western Greenland and the fossil record of Winteraceae in Laurasia and Gondwana”. http://rpubs.com/AlastairPotts....
 
32.
PRAGLOWSKI J. 1979. Winteraceae Lindl. World Pollen and Spore Flora, 8: 1–25.
 
33.
PUNT W., HOEN P.P., BLACKMORE S., NILSSON S. & LE THOMAS A. 2007. Glossary of pollen and spore terminology. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol., 143: 1–81.
 
34.
RAINE J.I., MILDENHALL D.C. & KENNEDY E.M. 2011. New Zealand Fossil Spores and Pollen: an Illustrated Catalogue. 4th Edition. Available from http://data.gns.cri.nz/sporepo....
 
35.
ROBERTS D.L., NEUMANN F.H., CAWTHRA H.C., CARR A.S., SCOTT L., DURUGBO E.U., HUMPHRIES M.S., COWLING R.M., BAMFORD M.K., MUSEKIWA C. & MACHUTCHON M. 2017. Palaeoenvironments during a terminal Oligocene or early Miocene transgression in a fluvial system at the southwestern tip of Africa. Global Planet. Change, 150: 1–23.
 
36.
SAMPSON F.B. 1974. A new pollen type in the Winteraceae. Grana, 14: 11–15.
 
37.
SAMPSON F.B. 1981. Synchronous versus asynchronous mitosis within permanent pollen tetrads of the Winteraceae. Grana, 20: 19–23.
 
38.
SAMPSON F.B. 2000a. The pollen of Takhtajania perrieri (Winteraceae). Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard., 87: 380–388.
 
39.
SAMPSON F.B. 2000b. Pollen diversity in some modern magnoliids. Int. J. Plant Sci., 161: S193–S210.
 
40.
SAMPSON F.B. 2007. Variation and similarities in pollen features in some basal angiosperms, with some taxonomic implications. Plant Syst. Evol., 263: 59–75.
 
41.
SMITH A.C. 1943. The American species of Drimys. J. Arnold Arbor., 24: 1–33.
 
42.
STOVER L.E & PARTRIDGE A.D. 1973. Tertiary and Late Cretaceous spores and pollen from the Gippsland Basin, southeastern Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 85: 237–286.
 
43.
STRAKA H. 1963. Über die mögliche phylogenetische Bedeutung der Pollenmorphologie der Madagassischen Bubbia perrieri R. Cap. (Winteraceae). Grana, 4: 355–360.
 
44.
SUH Y., THIEN L.B., REEVE H.E. & ZIMMER E.A. 1993. Molecular evolution and phylogenetic implications of internal transcribed spacer sequences of ribosomal DNA in Winteraceae. Am. J. Bot., 80: 1042–1055.
 
45.
THOMAS N., BRUHL J.J., FORD A. & WESTON P.H. 2014. Molecular dating of Winteraceae reveals a complex biogeographical history involving both ancient Gondwanan vicariance and long-distance dispersal. J. Biogeogr., 41: 894–904.
 
46.
VAN DER HAM R. & VAN HEUVEN B.J. 2002. Evolutionary trends in Winteraceae pollen. Grana, 41: 4–9.
 
47.
VINK W. 1970. The Winteraceae of the Old World. I. Pseudowintera and Drimys – morphology and taxonomy. Blumea, 18: 225–354.
 
48.
VINK W. 1977. The Winteraceae of the Old World II. Zygogynum – morphology and taxonomy Blumea, 23: 219–250.
 
49.
VINK W. 1978. The Winteraceae of the Old World. III. Notes on the ovary of Takhtajania. Blumea, 24: 521–525.
 
50.
VINK W. 1983. The Winteraceae of the Old World. IV. The Australian species of Bubbia. Blumea, 28: 311–328.
 
51.
VINK W. 1985. The Winteraceae of the Old World. V. Exospermum links Bubbia to Zygogynum. Blumea, 31: 39–55.
 
52.
VINK W. 1988. Taxonomy in Winteraceae. Taxon, 37: 691–698.
 
53.
VINK W. 1993. Winteraceae: 630–638. In: Kubitzki K., Rohwer J.G., and Bittrich V. (eds), The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. II. Flowering Plants: Dicotyledons, Magnoliid, Hamamelid and Caryophyllid. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
 
54.
VINK W. 2003. A new species of Zygogynum (Wintera­ceae) from New Caledonia. Blumea, 48: 183–186.
 
55.
WALKER J.W. 1974. Aperture evolution in the pollen of primitive angiosperms. Am. J. Bot., 61: 1112–1136.
 
56.
WALKER J.W & DOYLE J.A. 1975. The bases of angiosperm phylogeny: palynology. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard., 62: 664–723.
 
57.
WALKER J.W., BRENNER G.J. & WALKER A.G. 1983. Winteraceous pollen in the Lower Cretaceous of Israel: early evidence of a magnolialean angiosperm family. Science, 220: 1273–1275.
 
58.
ZETTER R. 1989. Methodik und Bedeutung einer routinemäßig kombinierten lichtmikroskopischen und rasterelektonenmikroskopischen Untersuchung fossiler Mikrofloren. Cour. Forschungsinst. Senckenberg, 109: 41–50.
 
 
CITATIONS (5):
1.
A Winteraceae pollen tetrad from the early Paleocene of western Greenland, and the fossil record of Winteraceae in Laurasia and Gondwana
Friðgeir Grímsson, Guido Grimm, Alastair Potts, Reinhard Zetter, Susanne Renner
Journal of Biogeography
 
2.
Fossil pollen from early Palaeogene sediments in western India provides phylogenetic insights into divergence history and pollen character evolution in the pantropical family Ebenaceae
Mahi Bansal, Shivaprakash Nagaraju, Ashish Mishra, Jeyakumar Selvaraj, Rajeev Patnaik, Vandana Prasad
Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society
 
3.
Reinhard Zetter, an appreciation
David Ferguson, Friðgeir Grímsson, Martina Weber
Grana
 
4.
First South American Record of Winteroxylon, Eocene of Laguna del Hunco (Chubut, Patagonia, Argentina): New Link to Australasia and Malesia
Mariana Brea, Ari Iglesias, Peter Wilf, Eliana Moya, María Gandolfo
International Journal of Plant Sciences
 
5.
The angiosperm pollen Volkheimerites labyrinthus gen. et sp. nov. from the earliest Paleogene (Danian) of Patagonia, Argentina
Paula Narváez, Natalia Mego, Nieto Silva, Mercedes Prámparo, Nora Cabaleri
Palynology
 
eISSN:2082-0259
ISSN:0001-6594
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top