Nitaspermum E.M.Friis, P.R.Crane et K.R.Pedersen

Plant Fossil Names Registry Number: PFN001792

Act LSID: urn:lsid:plantfossilnames.org:act:1792

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

Rank: genus

Reference: Friis, E. M., Crane, P. R. & Pedersen, K. R. (2018): Fossil seeds with affinities to Austrobaileyales and Nymphaeales from the Early Cretaceous (early to middle Albian) of Virginia and Maryland, USA: new evidence for extensive extinction near the base of the angiosperm tree. in Krings, M., Harper, C. J., Cúneo, N. R., Rothwell, G. W. (eds): Transformative paleobotany. Papers to commemorate the life and legacy of Thomas N. Taylor. Academic Press: 417–435.

Page of description: 418

Type

Original diagnosis/description

Seeds small, anatropous, bitegmic and exotestal, narrow to broadly elliptic in lateral view, bilaterally symmetrical with dorsiventral plane of symmetry,
sometimes slightly compressed laterally. Raphe indistinct externally. Hilum and micropyle close together separated by a narrow zone of exotestal tissue. Hilum with, or 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 hilum. Testa formed from an outer layer of palisadeshaped sclereids and an inner layer of thin-walled parenchyma cells. Palisade cells of exotesta with evenly thickened walls and a straight lumen. Palisade cells over most of the seed body with outer and inner parts of their anticlinal walls strongly folded resulting in a jigsaw puzzlelike pattern on the seed surface. Exotestal cells surrounding hilum and micropyle with polygonal facets. Tegmen thin. Embryo tiny.

Etymology

From Nymphaeales and the families of Austrobaileyales (Illiciaceae, Trimeniaceae, and Austrobaileyaceae) that show similar seed features.