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FIRST FOSSIL EVIDENCE FOR THE PRIMITIVE ANGIOSPERM FAMILY LACTORIDACEAE
Author(s) -
Zavada Michael S.,
Benson James M.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1987.tb12150.x
Subject(s) - cretaceous , pollen , extant taxon , paleontology , southern hemisphere , biology , mesozoic , fossil record , ecology , evolutionary biology , structural basin
Pollen of the primitive angiosperm family Lactoridaceae has been recovered from Turonian‐Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) sediments from eleven boreholes off the southwest coast of southern Africa. This is the first report of the Lactoridaceae in the fossil record. The one extant species of the Lactoridaceae is confined to the Juan Fernandez Islands located off the coast of Chile. The occurrence of lactoridaceous pollen in Cretaceous deposits of southern Africa suggest that this primitive angiosperm family may have been more widespread in the Southern hemisphere during the Cretaceous.