A Study of the Fossil Pollen Wodehouseia Spinata. I. Ultrastructure and Comparisons to Selected Modern Taxa. II. Optical Microscopic Recognition of Foot Layers in Differentially Stained Fossil Pollen and their Significance

Abstract

ABSTRACT Pollen of Wodehouseia spinata Stanley, 1961, obtained from a sample of the Upper Cretaceous Lance Formation in east-central Wyoming, was studied with the scanning and transmission electron microscopes. The apertures and wall stratification indicate that Wodehouseia spinata is an angiospermous pollen. Its ektexine consists of a columella layer and a tectum, but lacks a foot layer; its endexine is a single, unstructured layer. The flange is formed entirely of ektexine, which separates from the endexine and protrudes in a narrow circumferential area about the grain. The flange surfaces are closely appressed, and supported internally by long, radiating projections which emerge through the tectum of the flange as small spines. The columella layer in the flange wall is reduced in height. Although Wodehouseia is grossly similar to Impatiens, Beloperone, and Justicia, its ultrastructure is so fundamentally different as to render any generic relationships extremely improbable.