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The Possible Pollen Cone of the Late Triassic Conifer Heidiphyllum/Telemachus (Voltziales) From Antarctica
Bomfleur, Benjamin Serbet, Rudolph Taylor, Edith L. Taylor, Thomas N.
Bomfleur, Benjamin
Serbet, Rudolph
Taylor, Edith L.
Taylor, Thomas N.
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Abstract
Fossil leaves of the Voltziales, an ancestral group of conifers, rank among the most common
plant fossils in the Triassic of Gondwana. Even though the foliage taxon Heidiphyllum has been known for
more than 150 years, our knowledge of the reproductive organs of these conifers still remains very
incomplete. Seed cones assigned to Telemachus have become increasingly well understood in recent
decades, but the pollen cones belonging to these Mesozoic conifers are rare. In this contribution we describe
the first compression material of a voltzialean pollen cone from Upper Triassic strata of the Transantarctic
Mountains. The cone can be assigned to Switzianthus Anderson & Anderson, a genus that was previously
assumed to belong to an enigmatic group of pteridosperms from the Triassic Molteno Formation of
South Africa. The similarities of cuticle and pollen morphology, together with co-occurrence at all known
localities, indicate that Switzianthus most probably represents the pollen organ of the ubiquitous
Heidiphyllum/Telemachus plant.
Description
This is the publisher's version, which is being used with permission. The original article may be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954102011000241
Date
2011
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Cambridge University Press
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Keywords
Coniferophytes, Gondwana, In situ pollen, Switzianthus, Systematic palaeobotany, Transantarctic mountains
Citation
Bomfleur, B., Serbet, R., Taylor, E., and Taylor, N. 2011. The Possible Pollen Cone of the Late Triassic Conifer Heidiphyllum/Telemachus (Voltziales) From Antarctica. Antarctic Science 23(4): 379-385.