Wild host plants play an important role for tarnished plant bug (TPB) Lygus lineolaris, populations when cultivated crops are not flowering. Determining dispersal into/out of cropping systems and native habitats is important for managing this insect pest. Mark and capture techniques, ‘novel proteins’ or dyes to determine insect dispersal are time consuming, costly and can cause problems to insects and people. Pollen analysis of insects is easy and marking them with pollen does not injure insects or people. Although pollen has been used to determine dispersal and food sources of many insects, it has not been used for TPB. As a preliminary study, we wanted to test if pollen could be used as a marker and to determine TPB dispersal and food. Adult TPB were allowed to feed on Amaranthus palmeri flowers for 72 hours, then sacrificed at 0, 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 96 hours. Rinsing the insects three times with 95% ethyl alcohol prior to acetolysis removed 99% of the external pollen. There was a significant reduction in the number of pollen grains found in acetolyzed adults from the 0 to 96 hour time interval. At 0, 1 and 3 hours, 100% of the TPB contained pollen and at 96 hours, 55% contained pollen. Overall, 89% of the TPB examined contained pollen. Insects examined at 0 hours contained the greatest number of pollen grains (757) and those at 96 hours contained the least (26). If a TPB contained more than 10 A. palmeri pollen grains, there is a high probability that this individual fed within 12 hours. Amaranthus palmeri pollen worked well as a natural marker. Determining the pollen retention of various wild hosts in the gut helps in the management of this insect pest because it gives entomologists a time frame and a way to ‘track’ these insect pests.

Palynological studies have been performed in order to increase knowledge of relations between present vegetation and fungal biota. The analysis of modern analogues will help to improve the palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of fossil sequences from Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. A total of 24 fungal taxa have been found, described and illustrated. Surface samples were collected from the different vegetation communities developed on the island: steppe, Nothofagus forest-steppe ecotone and Nothofagus forest. The steppe is characterised by a predominance of Poaceae pollen accompanied by Nothofagus pollen (up to 30%) and spores of Glomus sp. In the forest-steppe ecotone, Nothofagus pollen frequencies rise up to 50% along with dwarf shrub heath communities and Gaeumannomyces species. In the forest unit, the percentage values of Nothofagus pollen surpass 50%. Among the fungal remains, fructifications of Microthyriaceae and dematiaceous spores such as Alternaria sp., Dictyosporium sp. and Sporidesmium sp. are present in forest samples and may be related to damp environments. Ascospores of the coprophilous Sordaria-type and Sporormiella-type appear to be common and are probably associated with livestock grazing. Fungal remains are very scarce in some of the samples obtained in mire environments. The ecological requirements of some of the fungi identified allowed inferences about the local conditions of the sampled site. This study demonstrates the palaeoenvironmental indicator value of fungal components and encourages further investigation of surface samples considering local habitat features to obtain a better understanding of local environmental conditions in the past.

Described here is a small acritarch with a fine reticulation on the internal surface of the cyst wall which provides a new criterion for future acritarch taxonomy. Sixty-six specimens of Introvertocystis rangiaotea gen. et sp. nov. have been identified from sediments of Ngaterian to Arowhanan age (Cenomanian to early Turonian; c. 99–92 Ma) within the Tupuangi Formation, Chatham Islands, New Zealand. The diagnostic feature of this fossil cyst is internal reticulation. This requires the emendment of the genus Palaeostomocystis. Some specimens may show waist constriction; this constriction is more common in larger specimens where it is suggestive of a paracingulum. However, the absence of a definite paracingulum, parasulcus or definable archeopyle precludes its assignment within the dinoflagellates. The wall structure is unusual in that the sculptural ornamentation is present on the internal surface, a feature that distinguishes it from all known acritarch genera.

Fifty-six ditch-cutting samples from two exploration wells, Azx-1 and Khx-1, in the Muglad Basin, Sudan were analysed for their palynofloral content. The material is dominated throughout the Early and Mid Cretaceous by rich pteridophyte/bryophyte spores and gymnosperm pollen. Angiosperm pollen are relatively less abundant, but become diverse by the Late Cretaceous although they occur in extremely low proportions. The recovered miospores allow the recognition of six informal assemblage zones spanning the Early Cretaceous through to the Paleocene and are designated as follows: Assemblage Zone I (Neocomian—Barremian); Assemblage Zone II (Barremian—Aptian); Assemblage Zone III (Aptian—Albian); Assemblage Zone IV (Albian—Cenomanian); Assemblage Zone V (Maastrichtian) and Assemblage Zone VI (Maastrichtian—Paleocene). This new zonation compares well with previous local and regional schemes.

The fossil pollen contents found in the charred dottle residue from 20 clay pipe bowls recovered from a cesspit at a house in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (which was owned and used by the artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn), were collected and studied. The clay pipes date from approximately the same period when Rembrandt lived in the house and used the cesspit. We believe that some of the pollen in the dottle residue may have come from the tobacco, some possibly from airborne sources at Rembrandt's house and/or from debris in the cesspit in which the pipes were discarded. The results are compared with a similar study of pipe dottle from Native American clay pipes conducted more than 25 years ago. We also briefly review the origin and spread of domestic tobacco in an effort to determine potential sources of the tobacco imported and used in the Netherlands during the lifetime of Rembrandt and the period when he occupied the house. The pollen content of modern brands of commercial pipe tobacco is studied and the potential for using pollen found in tobacco products as evidence in forensic circumstances is reviewed.

The John Williams Index of Palaeopalynology (JWIP) is the result of the lifetime's work of Dr John E. Williams. Housed at the Department of Palaeontology of The Natural History Museum (NHM) in London, the JWIP is publically available and provides probably the most comprehensive fully cross-referenced catalogue on palaeopalynology in the world. It has 23,350 references to fossil palynomorph genera or species as of February 2012. Since its inception in 1971, every publication in the collection referring to a fossil palynomorph genus or species has been critiqued by John E. Williams. Each item is given an accession number and appropriately referenced within the JWIP using index cards which are sorted alphabetically. Once added to the main reference subindex, further entries are completed for four themed subindexes. The first three of these are sets of cards on the three major palynomorph groups (acritarchs/dinoflagellate cysts, chitinozoa and pollen/spores), 26 stratigraphical intervals and 17 geographical areas. The fourth themed subindex is where each palynomorph taxon has a card (or cards) listing all the records of that species in the literature within six categories (acritarchs, dinoflagellate cysts, chitinozoa, fungal spores, pollen/spores and miscellaneous). Due to the sustained and meticulous recording of data since 1971, users can therefore search the database by major palynomorph group, species, age and/or geographical region. The comprehensive and cross-referenced nature of the JWIP means that researchers can readily identify key publications on, for example, specific palynomorph types over a particular interval in a prescribed area. The JWIP is currently entirely analogue, but the NHM is currently evaluating potential strategies for digitisation.

A palynological analysis of sediments sampled from core HI-178, offshore High Island, Texas, provided a diverse and well-preserved palynoflora. The main objective was to analyze the environmental conditions at time of deposition. A secondary objective was to evaluate whether or not this site might have been occupied by Native Americans by looking for signs of human-driven changes in vegetation. Here we focus on the abundance of hornwort spores recovered from these samples, review their diversity, compare the fossil spores to modern analogues and discuss the paleoenvironmental implications of hornwort abundance. Although no direct evidence of human occupation was found, the pollen and spore assemblage recovered, marked by high abundance and diversity in spores of hornworts belonging to the families Anthocerotaceae and Notothyladaceae, indicate that this site was most likely not submerged at the time of deposition; human occupation was therefore possible. This site represents a coastal low-lying area with ponds or slow-moving waters that provided the humid environment needed for hornworts to reproduce and thrive under warm climatic conditions.

The pollen of Cliococca selaginoides (Lam.) C. M. Rogers & Mildner and eight Linum L. species from Argentina were examined using light and scanning electron microscopy. Both genera share pollen grains which are 3zonocolpate, isopolar, radiosymmetric, spheroidal and medium to large in size. The sculptural elements of the exine are gemmae or clavae, which allow the genera to be distinguished and the species to be characterised. In Cliococca Bad., the pollen is exclusively gemmate whereas in Linum the pollen is gemmate and clavate (except in L. catharticum L. whose pollen has only gemmae which are apically microechinate). The statistical analyses of quantitative and qualitative morphological characteristics were performed. A key to identify and distinguish the pollen types and subtypes is also provided. A generalized procrustes analysis (GPA) of joint characterisation based on both qualitative and quantitative characters identified four distinct groups.

The palynostratigraphy of the lower and Coal members of the Copacabana Formation from Apillapampa, central Bolivia was investigated. Twelve samples yielded abundant and diverse, moderately well-preserved pollen and spores. One new spore species, Dictyotriletes cousmineri, is described and 52 species are recorded for the first time in Bolivia. Two species each of acritarchs and scolecodonts are also present. The lowermost assemblage yielded Vittatina and taxa such as Pakhapites ovatus and Marsupipollenites striatus, which are characteristic of the Asselian—Early Artinskian Vittatina costabilis Zone of the Paraná Basin, Brazil. The uppermost assemblage is defined by the appearance of several species of Lueckisporites, together with species of Vittatina, Lunatisporites, Pakhapites, Hamiapollenites, Corisaccites, Mabuitasaccites, Striomonosaccites, Striatoabieites, Striatopodocarpites and Weylandites. Abundant monolete and trilete spores with subordinate pollen grains are present in the Coal Member. Those species suggest correlation to the Middle Artinskian—Wuachiapingian Lueckisporites virkkiae Zone of the Paraná Basin. Highly variable associations of gymnosperms occur in the lower member whereas pteridophytes, sphenophylls and lycopods are dominant in the overlying Coal Member. These groups of plants characterised terrestrial landscapes along marine margins during the Early Cisuralian, and confirm the widespread distribution of the Glossopteris flora during the Permian in Gondwanaland. Preliminary radiometric data from interbedded tuffs suggest an Asselian—Sakmarian age for the marine Copacabana Formation and a Sakmarian—?Artinskian age for the overlying Coal Member. These new data are highly significant in terms of Permian correlations in central South America.

Quantitative palynological analyses undertaken on the middle Cretaceous Hassel Formation of the Sverdrup Basin and reputedly equivalent rocks from the Eclipse Trough, about 850 km east, provide convincing evidence that they are coeval and of Late Albian—Cenomanian age. We base this conclusion on statistical definition of two palynomorph populations that occur in both spot samples from the Eclipse Trough and in samples from a measured section at Hoodoo Dome, Ellef Ringnes Island in the central Sverdrup Basin, which demonstrate a broad correlation to previously reported palynofloras from North America. By applying ordination techniques, we demonstrate that the range of variability of palynomorph composition of samples from the reputed Hassel Formation in the Eclipse Trough are within the range of variability defined for samples from the Hassel Formation, Hoodoo Dome. Comparable proportions of dicotyledonous angiosperm pollen characterize samples from both localities, but diversity and relative abundance are lower in both of the Canadian Arctic deposits than in more southern Middle and Late Albian—Cenomanian-aged rocks of North America. To explain this, we propose that restricted angiosperm diversity and continued dominance of gymnosperms and ferns into the Cenomanian in the Canadian Arctic reflect relatively cool continental climate conditions or barriers to migration, such as the Western Interior Seaway.