Lusitanispermum choffatii E.M.Friis, P.R.Crane et K.R.Pedersen

Plant Fossil Names Registry Number: PFN000097

Act LSID: urn:lsid:plantfossilnames.org:act:97

Authors: E. M. Friis, P. R. Crane & K. R. Pedersen

Rank: species

Genus: Lusitanispermum E.M.Friis, P.R.Crane et K.R.Pedersen

Reference: Friis, E. M., Crane, P. R. & Pedersen, K. R. (2018): Extinct taxa of exotestal seeds close to Austrobaileyales and Nymphaeales from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal. – Fossil Imprint 74(1–2): 135–158.

Page of description: 147

Illustrations or figures: text-figs 7–10

Name is type for

Types

Original diagnosis/description

Isolated seeds occurring singly. Seeds small, anatropous, bitegmic and exotestal. Seeds bilaterally symmetrical with dorsiventral plane of symmetry. Seed surface smooth without longitudinal ridges. Raphe indistinct externally. Hilum and micropyle close together separated by a narrow zone of testal sclerenchyma. Hilar scar small without a hilar rim. Micropyle formed by the inner integument (tegmen) and marked on the seed surface by a transverse slit through the outer integument (testa) adjacent to the hilar scar. Testa formed from an outer layer (exotesta) of palisadeshaped sclerenchyma cells, and an inner thick layer of large parenchyma cells (mesotesta/endotesta). Palisade-shaped cells of exotesta with unevenly thickened walls that are thick towards the outside, thin towards the inside, and have a conical lumen. Exotesta thick adjacent to the hilum forming a bulging zone that may be two-parted. Anticlinal walls of palisade-shaped sclerenchyma strongly undulate toward the inside and toward the outside, resulting in stellate-undulate facets and a jigsaw puzzle-like pattern on the seed surface except over the raphe and around the micropyle where the cell walls are straight and facets polygonal. Tegmen thin. Embryo tiny, with two rudimentary cotyledons.

Etymology

In recognition of Léon Paul Choffat (*1849, †1919) for his geological studies of Cretaceous deposits in Portugal.

Stratigraphy

Cretaceous, Lower Cretaceous
late Aptian – early Albian or older
Type horizon: below the Figueira da Foz Formation

Locality

Portugal
Famalicão (39°42′16″N; 8°46′12″W)