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Fossil Index
Fossil material of plants can be difficult to identify as to species, genus, or larger taxonomic units, as usually what is found is individual parts of plants, such as wood, leaves, flowers, fruits or pollen, and these are often insufficient for identification, particularly for older material which is less closely related to modern material, and may be less well preserved. Consequently, and as fossils of one plant part often cannot be unambigiously associated with those of another plant part, palaeobotanists use form genera to classify parts of plants of uncertain taxonomic position. The suffices -pollis and -pollenites are sometimes used with generic names, indicating a similarity with the pollen of the modern genus whose name is combined with that suffix. It cannot be assumed that fossil pollen represents a species particularly close to the modern genus; for example much Malvacipollis is euphorbiaceous rather than malvaceous.
Material on fossil pollen often omits the taxonomic position of the material, and I have probably omitted some genera which are considered malvaceous; for example, Thomsonipollis is a segregate from Intratriporopollenites, but I don't whether the segregator placed the former in the same taxon (Malvaceae sensu lato) as the latter. The botanical affinities of Suprapollis are said to be unknown, but it looks rather grewioid (i.e. malvaceous) to my untutored eye.
Pollen comparable to that of Aguiaria, which is currently restricted to the Amazon basin, is recorded from Miocene sites in Panama and southern Mexico (Chiapas) [37].
Baumannipollis is a pollen genus from the middle Tertiary of South America, believed to represent the pollen of a malvoid plant. Pollen of this genus is spinose (echinate) and stephanocolporate.
Baumannipollis chubutensis Barreda is recorded from the Miocene and Pliocene, and perhaps also from the late Oligocene, of Argentina [1, 2, 26, e], described as being from a malvaceous aquatic herb [1, j].
Baumannipollis evae Anzótegui y Cuadrado is recorded from the Upper Miocene of Argentina [2, e].
Baumannipollis variaperturatus Barreda is recorded from the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene, and perhaps also Middle Miocene, of Argentina [2, e, j].
Pollen ascribed to Bernouillia is recorded from the Miocene of Panama [37].
Bombacacidites has a long pollen record extending from the Late Cretaceous to the Holocene. It is generally recognised as representing taxa belonging to Bombacoideae, but B. paulus and others may be referable to Brownlowia or an allied genus. The earliest records are from North America, but in the Lower Tertiary it is broadly distributed. In the Upper Tertiary records become restricted to South America and, oddly, New Zealand. In the Eocene of Colombia at least 20 morphospecies of this pollen genus are known [18].
Bombacacipites (type B. nacimientoensis Anderson) would appear to be a synonym of Bombacacidites.
Bombacacidites africanus is recorded from the Palaeogene of south west Nigeria.
Bombacacidites annae (Van der Hammen) Germeraad et al. is recorded from the Late Palaeocene of Colombia [8] and the Eocene of Venezuela [10].
Bombacacidites baculatus is recorded from the Late Miocene of Colombia [15], the Upper Eocene and Oligocene [43] and lower Miocene of Venezuela [25], and from the Miocene and Pliocene of Mexico [17, 48] and Brasil [18]
Bombacacidites baumfalki and Bombacacidites zuatensis are recorded from the La Rosa and Lagunillas Formations of the Lower Miocene of the Maracaibo Basin of Venezuela. [25]. Bombacacidites baumfalki is also recorded from the Upper Eocene and Oligocene of Venezuela. [43].
Bombacacidites bellus is recorded from the Lower Miocene of Venezuela [25] and Pliocene or Pleistocene of Colombia [16]. Similar material is recorded from the Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene [20].
Bombacacidites bombaxoides Couper is recorded from the Late Oligocene to Miocene of New Zealand [3, 34]
Bombacacidites brevis (Dueñas) Muller et al is recorded from the La Rosa and Lagunillas Formations of the Lower Miocene of the Maracaibo Basin of Venezuela. [25], the Upper Eocene and Oligocene of Venezuela. [43], and from the Middle Eocene of Colombia [49].
Bombacacidites ciriloensis is recorded from the Middle Miocene of Colombia [12], and also recorded from the Pliocene or Pleistocene of Colombia [16].
Bombacacidites fereparilis Frederiksen is recorded from the United States. Similar material is known from the Middle Eocene of Cuba [10].
Bombacacidites fossureticulatus Jaramillo and Dilcher is recorded from the Middle Eocene of Columbia [49]
Bombacacidites foveoreticulatus Muller et al is recorded from the Middle Eocene of Columbia [11, 19].and the Upper Eocene of Venezuela [43].
Bombacacidites gonzalezii Jaramillo and Dilcher is recorded from the Middle Eocene of Columbia [49]
Bombacacidites isoreticulatus McIntyre is recorded from the Palaeogene of New Zealand [34].
Bombacacidites kettigensis is recorded from the Eocene [9] or Miocene [49] of Germany.
Bombacacidites noremmi is recorded from the Oligocene or Miocene of the Gulf of Mexico [48].
Bombacacidites nacimientoensis (Anderson) Elsik is recorded from the Palaeocene [7] and Eocene [10] of the United States, and from Colombia.
Bombacacidites nanobrochatus Frederiksen is ecorded from the United States, and from the Middle Miocene of Argentina. Similar material is known from the Middle Eocene of Cuba [10].
Bombacacidites paulus is recorded from the Middle Eocene of Texas [49]. A relationship to Brownlowia, or to one of several genera of Bombacoideae, has been proposed.
Bombacacidites protofoveoreticulatus Jaramillo and Dilcher is recorded from from the Palaeocene of Colombia
Bombacacidites qaidamensis is recorded from China.
Bombacacidites reticulatus Krutzsch is recorded from the Cretaceous, Palaeocene and earliest Eocene of the United States [4, 5, 6, 7]
Bombacacidites simplireticulatus Jaramillo and Dilcher is recorded from from the Palaeocene of Colombia
Bombacacidites soleaformis is recorded from the Eocene of Colombia [13, 14, 19], the Middle Eocene of Venezuela, and the Upper Eocene of Venezuela [43].
Bombacacidites tilioides is recorded from the Eocene [9] or Miocene [49]of Germany. Similar material (Bombacacidties "mirabilis") is found in the Middle Eocene of Cuba [10]. It is also recorded from the United States [10]
Bombacacidites triangulatus is recorded from the Oligcene of Assam [c].
Bombacacidites, unassigned to species, is recorded from Holocene of Maharashtra (India) [45], which presumably reflects either of both of the living genera Bombax and Ceiba. It is also recorded from the Miocene of Peru [h] and the Eocene of Louisiana [49]
The names Bombacacidites psilatus and Bombacacidites pseudosimplireticulatus have also been used.
Named for a general similarity to Bombacacidites, but this genus also shows similarity to the pollen of Triumfetta and that of Coris (Primulaceae) [24]. In particular B. hectorii is prolate, rather than oblate, and hence is more likely grewioid or byttnerioid that bombacoid.
Bombapollis hectorii is recorded from the Late Oligocene of New Zealand [24]. Bombapollis texensis Elsik is recorded from the Middle Eocene of Texas. [27].
Bombax ceiba-type pollen is found in the Palaeocene of South America. [i]
Pollen ascribed to Cavanillesia is recorded from the Mio-Pliocene of Bolivia [38].
Pollen ascribed to Ceiba is recorded from the Miocene of Panama [37].
Pollen ascribed to Camptostemon is recorded from the Miocene of Borneo [46], and the Pleistocene of East Java and Australia.
Dermatobrevicolporites Kar
Discoidites represents tricolpate disc-shaped pollen grains. It differs from Tillaepollenites in possessing short colpi and lacking any indication of vestibulate pores. The type species, Discoidites borneensis is similar to the pollen of living Brownlowia and Pentace. Other species from Indonesia are Discoidites robustus, Discoidites eflatus, Discoidites maximus, Discoidites novaguinensis and Discoidites pilosus.
Discoidites parvistriatus is recorded from the Lower Palaeocene of North Dakota [28].
Echiperiporites estelae Germeraad, Hopping and Muller is recorded from the Lower Miocene of the Gulf of Siam [22], the Miocene of Peru [h], the Middle Eocene [49], Oligocene amd Miocene of Columbia, and the Upper Eocene to Lower Miocene of Venezuela [25, 43]. It is also recorded from the Eocene or Miocene of West Africa [23] .
Echiperiporites parviechinatus Anzótegui y Cuadrado [2] and Echiperiporites santamariana are recorded from the Middle Miocene of Argentina [2, e].
Echiperiporites akanthos is recorded from the Palaeogene of Tibet.
Echiperiporities, unspecified as to species, is recorded from the Palaeocene of Pakistan [42], the Late Palaeocene of Columbia [49], the Upper Eocene of Venezuela, the lower Miocene of Panama and the Upper Miocene of Veracruz (Mexico) [62].
Echitricolporites maristellae is common in the Lower Miocene of western Venezuela, and is used a biostratigraphic zone fossil. It is of uncertain taxonomic affinity, but it has been proposed that it is malvoid or bombacoid. It represents a plant of back-mangrove swamps. [25] It is also recorded
Echitricolporites mcneillyi is recorded from the Pliocene of Columbia.
Echitricolporites spinosus is recorded from the Miocene and Pleistocene of Columbia.
This form genus represents an extinct bombacoid pollen type [b]. It is common enough to be an important index fossil in the north Tethyan floral belt. [b].
Friedrichipollis claibornensis is recorded from the Middle Eocene of Texas [27]. Friedrichipollis is also recorded from Georgia (USA).
This form genus represents pollen similar to that of the living genus Grewia. However it is tricolpate, whereas Grewia has tricolporate pollen, and may not be closely related (or even malvalean). Grewiapollenites canadensis is recorded from the Cretaceous of North America [33].
These form genera presumably represent the pollen similar to that of Hibiscus, and may be orthographic variants.
Hibisceaepollenites splendus is recorded from the Miocene of Mizoram (India) [44]
Hibisceaepollenites robustispinosus is recorded from the Holocene of Maharashtra (India) [45].
Pollen of Hoheria ("a very small Malvacipollis type") is recorded from the Middle Eocene of Texas [27]. I am skeptical of this identification.
This form genus covers pollen morphospecies associated with Tilioideae, Brownlowioideae and perhaps also Bombacoideae. (A possible association with Sterculiaceae is also mentioned in at least one source.) It is divided into 5 subgenera, one of which contains pollen similar that of Tilia and Cragia, a second which contains pollen similar to that of Mortoniodendron, and a third (Insculptipollenites) which contains pollen similar to that of some Brownlowidoideae; the other two subgenera may also related to Brownlowioideae [b]. Modern Browlowioideae has two types of pollen, which might correspond to the tribes Brownlowieae and Berryeae [a].
Tiliaepollenites is a form genus for pollen similar to that of Tilia. More often than not either Tilia or Intratriporopollenites are used instead, and therefore records of Tiliaepollenites are presented here, rather than separately. (Tiliaepollenites may correspond to one of the subgenera of Intratriporopollenites.) The type of Tiliaepollenites, T. indubitalis Potonié, is the same as Intratriporopollenites indubitalis.
Intratriporopollenites (or Tiliaepollenites) ceciliensis is recorded from the Eocene of Germany [9]. Intratriporollenites ceciensis (is this the same taxon?) is recorded from the Middle Eocene of North Africa, and is hypothesised to represent a form of brownlowioid pollen [56].
Intratriporopollenites cordataeformis is a name for pollen similar to that of the living species Tilia cordata. It is recorded from the Upper Miocene of Romania [57].
Tiliaepollenites danei is recorded from the Upper Palaeocene of interior Canada [l, m, n] under that name and as Tilia danei.
Intratriporopollenites indubitabilis (Potonié) Thomson & Pflug is recorded from the Eocene [58] and Miocene of Anatolia, and from the Miocene of the Gulf of Mexico.
Intratriporopollenites insculptus (Potonié) Thomson & Pflug is recorded from the Oligocene of Ireland [o] and Germany . It may be the pollen of Byttneriophyllum tiliaefolium (Al. Braun) Knobloch & Z. Kvacek. It may be brownlowioid.
Intratriporopollenites (or Tiliaepollenites) instructus (Potonié) Thomson & Pflug is recorded from the Eocene of Wyoming [29], North Dakota [p] and Missisippi [60], from the Eocene [58] and Oligocene-Miocene [59] of Anatolia, from the Miocene of Germany [61], from the Miocene of Denmark [49], and from Eocene sediments of the China Sea north of Taiwan [51].
Intratriporopollenites kettingensis Pflug is Bombacacidites kettingensis (Pflug) Krutzsch
Intratriporopollenites magnoporatus Pflug. & Thomson is said to be juglandaceous [58]. Elsewhere it is transferred to the form genus Subtriporopollenites, of unknown affinity.
Material similar to Intratriporopollenites maxoides is recorded from the Eocene of Germany [9].
Intratriporopollenites microinstructus is recorded from the Lower and Middle Miocene of Germany.
Intratriporopollenites (or TIliaepollenites) microreticulatus is recorded is recorded from Late Eocene of Guangxi [52], from the Early Eocene of Belgium, , and from the Miocene of Bohemia, and from Greenland.
Intratriporopollenites minimus is recorded from the early Palaeocene of Canada, from the Eocene of Germany [9].
Intratriporopollenites (or Tiliaepollenites) notabilis (Harris) Stover is recorded from the Palaeocene [39], late Eocene [54], early Oligocene [54] and late Oligocene [24] of New Zealand, from the early Eocene of Tasmania [53], from the Palaeocene of Victoria [39], and from South Australia [55]. Similar pollen is recorded from Borneo [k]
Intratriporopollenites ollivierae is recorded from the Lower Eocene of France, and from the Palaeogene of the southeastern United States.
Intratriporopollenites pseudinstructus Mai is recorded from the Lower Tertiary of the United States [7], and the Eocene of Germany.
Intratriporopollenites rhizophorus is recorded from China.
Intratriporopollenites stavensis is recorded from the from the Eocene of Texas [56], Lower Palaeocene (Danian) of South Carolina, and from the Eocene/Oligocene boundary of Alabama and Missisippi.
class="text"Intratriporopollenites tetraforaminipites and Intratriporopollenites vescipites are recorded from the Eocene of Wyoming [29]. The latter is also recorded from the Palaeocene of North Dakota. [28] and (as Tilia vescipites) from the Upper Palaeocene of Canada [l].
13 morphospecies of Tiliaepollenites are recorded from China.
Tiliaepollenites formosensis Shaw, Tiliaepollenites taiwanensis Huang, Tiliaepollenites pengchiahsuensis Shaw and Tiliaepollenites speciosus Shaw are recorded from Eocene sediments of the China Sea north of Taiwan. [50], as is Tiliaepollenites zonatus Shaw [51].
Tiliaepollentites lingfengensis is recorded from China.
Tiliaepollenites is recorded from Indonesia and New Zealand. (I am skeptical of this identification.) [f]
Lakiapollis is a form genus for pollen similar to that of Durio and related genera, Lakiapollis ovatus represents pollen similar to that of Durio in particular, and Lakiapollis microreticulatus pollen similar to that of Neesia. Lakiapollis is recorded from the Palaeocene and Eocene of India [41], and also from Indonesia.
Lakiapollis matanomadhensis is not correctly placed in this genus, and may not be malvaceous. It is correctly placed in Tricolporopollis (of which Retitribrevicolporites) is a junior synonym. [Retitribrevicolporites Is a Synonym of Tricolporopollis (Tertiary Pollen from India), Taxon, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Aug., 1999), pp. 493-496 ]
Magnaperiporites is a segregate from Echiperiporites, from which it differs in the large size of the grains and the possession of a perforate tectum [21]. The latter is generally considered to be malvaceous, but it may be unwarranted to assume that Magnaperiporites also is, and Magnaperiporites may be convolvulaceous.
Magniperiporites echinatus is recorded from the Miocene of Peru [h]
The name Magnaperiporites spinosus Gonzalez Guzman has been used.
Malvacearumpollis is a form genus for pollen similar to that of living Malvaceae sensu strictu. It is recorded from the Miocene of Peru [h].
Malvacearumpollis mannanensis is recorded from the Oligocene and Miocene of Australia [30]. and the Tertiary of New Zealand [34]
Malvacearumpollis bakonyensis Nagy is recorded from the Eocene-Oligocene boundary of Australia.
Malvacerumpollis papuensis is recorded from the Upper Tertiary of Papua [g].
Malvaceidites spinosus is recorded from the Upper Tertiary of Papua [g] and the Holocene of Maharashtra (India) [45].
Malvacipollis is a form genus for pollen similar to that of living mallows. Much material assigned to this genus is in fact euphorbiaceous (Euphorbiaceae also has echinate pollen) rather than malvaceous
Malvacipollis is recorded from the Middle Miocene of Argentina [2].
The name Malvacipollis diversus WK Harris is recorded from the Palaeogene of New Zealand. It may be euphorbiaceous. [34]
Malvacipollis spinyspora is recorded from the Neogene of New Zealand. It may be euphorbiaceous (Micrantheum). [34]
Malvacipollis spinulosa is recorded from the Lower Miocene of the Maracaibo Basin of western Venezuela. [25], and from the Upper Eocene and Oligocene of the Barinas–Apure Basin also of western Venezuela [43]
Malvacipollis subtilis is recorded from the Tertiary of New Zealand [34]. It may be euphorbiaceous (Austrobuxus).
Malvacipollis (Echiperiporites) tschudyi is a pollen morphospecies that may belong to an euphorbiaceous plant, rather than a malvaceous one. It is recorded from the Lower Tertiary of the United States [7].
Malvacipollis problematicus is recorded from the Upper Tertiary of Papua [g].
Malvasipollis may be an orthographic variant of Malvacipollis. This is tentatively recorded from the Early Eocene of Wyoming. [29]
Malvacipolloides densiechinata is recorded from the Upper Miocene of Argentina (Parana Formation) [2]
Malvacipolloides comodoroensis Barreda is recorded from the Oligocene or early Miocene to Pliocene of Argentina [1, 2, e], and is described as being from a malvaceous aquatic herb [1, j].
Malvacipolloides tucumanensis is recorded from the Middle and Upper Miocene of Argentina. It is tricolporate. [2, e].
Malvapantocolporites is a form genus including oligopantocolporate and oligopantocolpoidate pollen, presumably with an echinate tectum. It is recorded from the Middle Miocene of Argentina, where the species M. rafaelii, M. sanjoseii, M. silvinites are recorded. [e]
Malvatriporites argentina is recorded from the Eocene to Middle Oligocene of Argentina [2], and Malvatriporites sanjosesii from the Middle Miocene of Argentina [2].
Mansoniaepollis is a form genus for pollen similar to that of Mansonia. It is common enough to be an important index fossil in the north Tethyan floral belt. [b]
Pollen of Mortoniodendron is recorded from the Miocene of Mexico and Panama. [d],the Mio-Pliocene of Guatemala [36], and the Pliocene of Panama [49].
Thsi form genus presumably represents pollen similar to that of Malvaceae. As the pollen of Malvaceae has been confused with other plants with echinate pollen, one can't be confident that this does represent Malvaceaous pollen, without further information.
Palaeomalvaceaepollis mammilatus is recorded from the Miocene of Mizoram (India) [44]. Palaeomalvaceaepollis rudis is recorded from the Tertiary of Assam.[q]
Parsonsidites psilatus is recorded from the Palaeogene and Neogene of New Zealand. Some or all of this material may represent pollen of Hoheria and Plagianthus (with the spines missing.) However Parsonsidites multiporus is said to be balanophoraceous. [34]. The names P. conspicuus and P. minor have also been used, but I have no reason to suspect that they represent malvaceous taxa.
Pollen questionably attributable to Plagianthus is recorded from the Late Eocene of Texas [27]. I am skeptical of this identification. Plagianthus pollen is also recorded from the Neogene of New Zealand. [34]
Pollen ascribed to Psuedobombax is recorded from the Miocene of Panama [37].
Reevesiapollis is a form genus for pollen similar to that of Reevesia. It has a long pollen record in Europe, extending into the Pliocene, and is also recorded from North America. [b]
Reevesiapollis reticulatus is recorded from northwest Australia (Pilbara) [30], South Australia (Flinders Island) [32] and New Zealand [31, 34]. This pollen species is associated with the living genus Ungeria [30], which is now confined to Norfolk Island.
The name Reevesiapollenites triangulus has also been used. I am unaware of the distinction, if any, between Reevesiapollis and Reevesiapollenites. As the specific epithet triangulus is used with both generic names, I suspect that they are synonyms, the latter perhaps being an orthographic variant.
Retistephanocolpites is a pollen form genus for reticulate(?) stephanocolpate pollen. Pollen of this form, from the Upper Miocene of Argentina is ascribed to Bombacaceae.[35, 47] Other pollen species of this form genera are assigned to other families.
Retitribrevicolporites Kar
Pollen attributed to Sphaeralcea is recorded from the Upper Miocene of Argentina (Parana Formation) [2].
Tahitiaoipollis is a form genus for pollen similar to that of Christiana (Tahitia is a synonym of Christiana). It is common enough to be an important index fossil in the north Tethyan floral belt. [b]
Tricolporocolumellites Kar
Trochetiopsis-like pollen is recorded from the late Miocene of St. Helena [40].
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