Palynology has developed over the last 100 years, and has been used chiefly in palaeoecology, environmental archaeology, geology, and taxonomy. Many publications concern general and esoteric methods used in branches of palynology, but most are derived from the Quaternary sciences. The literature in forensic palynology, in contrast, is relatively small, disparate, and fragmented. No comprehensive guide to best practice for the forensic palynologist has previously been published. The protocols presented here address that need, and are based, though not exclusively, on the author's experience over 20 years, primarily in the UK and Ireland where every police force has been assisted in some way. Regional differences in police practices have been ignored here, and the protocols concentrate on essential requirements. The spectrum of activity from first encounter with a client (such as the police) to a final court appearance is addressed, and can be applied wherever forensic palynology is employed. While procedures can be standardised to a considerable extent, it is not possible to provide guidelines on the interpretation of data. Interpretative skills require repeated exposure to casework and an understanding of the complexity of palynological taphonomy (all the factors affecting whether a palynomorph will be found at a particular place, at a particular time). As every case is unique, each presents new challenges, so a fully formulaic or inflexible protocol would be unhelpful in the interpretation of palynological profiles. References to more detailed information are provided where other literature, especially in Quaternary science, is inadequate for forensic purposes.

Recent hydrocarbon exploration in the northern sector of the Western Desert in Egypt has revealed relatively rich hydrocarbon accumulations, mainly of gas, and demonstrate promising future prospects. In order to improve our understanding of this area and to provide a biostratigraphical framework for the hitherto poorly dated Lower Cretaceous successions, a palynological analysis was carried out on 57 ditch cutting samples from the Abu Tunis 1x borehole. Palynostratigraphic investigation on these samples has enabled the identification of three new palynostratigraphically defined age divisions with three corresponding palynozones defined by first uphole occurrences of gymnosperm and angiosperm pollen and dinoflagellate cysts. Spore and pollen grains recovered from the Abu Tunis 1x borehole show the characteristics of the pre-Albian Dicheiropollis/Afropollis Phytogeographical Province. Discrepancies in the reported range of Dicheiropollis etruscus, when compared with earlier (Berriasian) appearances in West Africa and later (late Hauterivian) appearances in East Africa, may be attributed to palaeoecological factors. Dicheiropollis etruscus is accepted as having a cheirolepidiacean conifer affinity and is regarded as having been produced by a thermophilous plant. Here, we suggest that Dicheiropollis etruscus was adapted to arid conditions. Dicheiropollis etruscus thus first appeared in hot, dry palaeo-subtropical African regions, but as Western Gondwana broke up and the African Plate moved northeast during/after the Late Jurassic, the region that is now present-day Egypt, Libya and Sudan had moved by the late Hauterivian into a subtropical position; the ensuing increased aridity thus allowed Dicheiropollis etruscus to migrate into these areas.

This review focuses on previous work on honey pollen analysis (melissopalynology) to determine the bee floras of South Asian honeys. After a brief historical introduction on melissopalynology, the abundance and distribution of pollen and the nectar source for bees of specific regions are identified. With the help of 124 research papers referenced, a list of the bee flora of South Asia has been compiled, representing 750 plants serving as the pollen sources. Knowledge of bee floras of this region will prove to be significant for beekeepers during nomadic beekeeping, by increasing pollination and honey production and, hence, improving the apiculture industry of the region.

Palynological analyses of 12 samples from the Cape Melville Formation, which crops out on easternmost King George Island, Antarctica, provide new information on the type of vegetation that covered the South Shetland Islands during the early Miocene Melville Glaciation, c. 23–21 Ma. The assemblage recovered was mostly characterised by in situ algae such as leiospheres along with acanthomorph acritarchs, both glacial indicators. The sparse in situ terrestrial palynomorph assemblage included tundra-indicative moss spores Coptospora sp., rare podocarp conifer and various angiosperm pollen. The latter includes pollen of several species of Nothofagidites, plus rare Asteraceae, Caryophyllaceae (Colobanthus-type) and Chenopodipollis. The majority of the palynomorphs recovered are interpreted as reworked, denoting glacial scouring and redeposition from various sites in the Antarctic Peninsula and the South Shetland Islands. These reworked palynomorphs are of Permian to Paleogene age. This reworked component provides insight into the potential sources of reworking, and is consistent with multiple cycles of glacial advances to the Melville Peninsula at the time of deposition. The penecontemporaneous palynomorphs recovered provide new data on the climatic regime and glacial intensification during the early Miocene on King George Island.

Organically preserved, unicellular microfossils of Ediacaran and Cambrian age, which comprise single and multiple internal bodies within the vesicle, have been studied with a view towards explaining the origin and function of these structures. Assessed by body plan, ornamentation, excystment structure, cell wall resistance and ultrastructure (where available), and newly observed internal bodies defined by their own, robust wall, these microfossils are recognised as algal zygotic cysts and phycomata by comparison with extant green algae. Although rare, these internal bodies are a persistent feature of specific morphotypes regardless of geological age, and are reviewed. Internal bodies are a part of reproductive cysts, resembling those known in different clades of green algae: prasinophytes, chlorophytes and streptophytes, as well as alveolates (including dinoflagellates). They are inferred to be endocysts containing zygotes and/or sacs of swarmers, if single, or offspring cells (spores), if multiple, in sexual and asexual generations of ancient taxa of the classes Prasinophyceae and Chlorophyceae. It may not be excluded, however, that they represent the earliest, stem-group streptophytes or alveolates. The diagnoses of the Ediacaran taxa Ancorosphaeridium, A. magnum, Densisphaera, D. arista, D. fistulosa, Multifronsphaeridium ramosum and Tanarium tuberosum are emended to include the internal bodies as integral morphological structures of microfossils, and to abandon the erroneous identification of the double wall of the vesicle. Based on the earliest occurrence of microfossils with an internal body in the Dictyosphaera—Shuiyousphaeridium plexus, sexual reproduction among photosynthesising microbiota is interpreted at c. 1.6–1.4 Ga, a common phenomenon in the Ediacaran (Tanarium, Ancorosphaeridium, Densisphaera), and dominant in the Cambrian (Skiagia, Polygonium and many others) periods.

The Upper Cretaceous Ferron Sandstone Member of the Mancos Shale Formation in Utah includes coal and gas deposits and is an important outcrop analogue to study reservoir characterisation of fluvial—deltaic petroleum systems. Numerous sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic studies of the Notom fluvial—deltaic wedge have been conducted recently; however, palynological analyses had not previously been undertaken. Here, we present palynological data from 128 samples collected in the Notom wedge of the Ferron Sandstone Member outcropping in south-central Utah. The purpose of this study is to use palynological analysis to refine the broader depositional environments, evaluate the climatic setting, and to build a biostratigraphic palynological framework. The dominance of terrestrial palynomorphs, especially the high yield of moisture-loving cryptogam spores, indicates a primarily everwet depositional environment characteristic of hydromorphic floodplain palaeosols formed in subtropical to tropical climates. Although dinoflagellates are rare, four intervals with occurrences of marine cysts indicate periods of increased marine/tidal influence associated with previously identified flooding surfaces within Milankovitch-scale parasequences of the largely non-marine stratal succession. These flooding surfaces confirm correlations from regional high-resolution sequence stratigraphic studies and allow correlative marine parasequences and systems tracts to be extended within floodplain-dominated stratal successions. The presence of Nyssapollenites albertensis pollen places the interval studied within the Nyssapollenites albertensis Interval Zone (Nichols 1994), constraining the age of the Ferron Sandstone Member to the latter part of the Cenomanian and the early Coniacian. This largely agrees with the bentonite- and ammonite-derived Turonian age proposed in previous studies.

The ‘Lentin & Williams Index’, of which the first version was published in 1973, was intended to keep those involved in fossil dinoflagellate research abreast of the burgeoning taxonomic literature. An additional role has been to ‘tidy up’ nomenclatural issues that have been left unresolved in publications. The printed Index has moved to an online database, DINOFLAJ, a new version of which is projected for 2016. Although since 2012 the International Code of Nomenclature makes allowance for nomenclatural novelties to be proposed online, these digital sources need to be in PDF format in a recognised online publication. As DINOFLAJ3 will arguably not meet formal rules of nomenclature, this brief communication is intended to formalise nomenclatural changes that are needed before the database is released. Thus, the following names are herein validated: Alterbidinium compactum, Alterbidinium nuculum, Alterbidinium nummiliforme, Alterbidinium pentangulare, Alterbidinium prominense, Alterbidinium pseudocirculum, Alterbidinium saltanovae, Alterbidinium simplex; and Palaecysta palmula subspecies ankamotraensis. Also proposed herein are the following new combinations: Amphorulacysta delicata, Amphorulacysta? dodekovae, Amphorulacysta? expirata, Amphorulacysta metaelliptica, Amphorulacysta? monteilii; Bonetocardiella peregrinaensis; Cordosphaeridium gracile forma areolatum; Cribroperidinium graemei subspecies trabeculosum; Dinopterygium asteriforme; Nyktericysta granorugosa, Nyktericysta pentaradiata; Palaecysta complicata, Palaecysta palmula, Palaecysta silyba; and Pithonella melloi.