Isoetalean megasporophylls with megaspores from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia
Abstract
Detached megasporophylls bearing relatively large sporangia with megaspores are described from the lower Maastrichtian dinosaur beds of the Nemegt Basin, eastern Gobi, Mongolia. The megasporophylls are fertile along their entire length except a short tip. The megaspore tetrads are aligned in a single file. On the base of these distinctions the Mongolian fossils are assigned to a new genus Monilitheca of the Isoetalean affinities. The megaspore casts show replicas of both the external and internal reticulate structures. The megaspores are comparable with dispersed spore genera Horstisporites and Erlansonisporites thus suggesting their isoetalean affinities.
- Publication:
-
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology
- Pub Date:
- 1996
- DOI:
- 10.1016/S0034-6667(96)00020-6
- Bibcode:
- 1996RPaPa..94..231K