Palynological results from opposite sides of the northernmost Antarctic Peninsula provide insight on terrestrial vegetation and sea-surface conditions immediately before the Eocene–Oligocene transition (EOT), through Early Oligocene glacial conditions and the subsequent Late Oligocene interglacial interval. A latest Eocene sample set from the uppermost La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, James Ross (back-arc) Basin, records a low-diversity Nothofagus (southern beech)-dominated vegetation with some podocarp conifers similar to Valdivian-type forest found today in Chile and Argentina. Marine organicwalled phytoplankton include leiospheres and Eocene dinoflagellate cysts such as Vozzhennikovia rotunda, V. apertura, Senegalinium asymmetricum and Spinidinium macmurdoense. Immediately before the EOT near the top of the section the decrease in terrestrial palynomorphs, increase in reworked specimens, disappearance of key dinocysts, and overwhelming numbers of sea-ice-indicative leiospheres plus the small dinoflagellate cyst Impletosphaeridium signal the onset of glacial conditions in a subpolar climate. Early to Late Oligocene samples from the Polonez Cove and Boy Point formations on King George Island, South Shetland Islands (magmatic arc), yielded an extremely depauperate terrestrial flora, likely resulting in part from poor vegetation cover during the Polonez Glaciation but also because of destruction of vegetation due to continued regional volcanism. The prevalence of sea-ice-indicative leiospheres in the marine palynomorph component is consistent with polar to subpolar conditions during and following the Polonez Glaciation.

The paper reports on a synthesis of pollen analyses and main archaeobotanical studies carried out on Early, Middle and Late Holocene sites from Sai Island in the Nile River (ancient Upper Nubia, present northern Sudan). Multidisciplinary archaeological studies focused on the transitions from hunting-fishinggathering to pastoralism and later to agro-pastoralism in this area. New palynological data were obtained from two sites located on the eastern side of the island: an Early Holocene occupational level of a ‘Khartoum Variant’ foraging site (8-B-10C, Level 2; c. 7600–7200 BC), and a Middle/Late Holocene site dating to the Pre-Kerma/Kerma period (8-B-10A; the later phase is dated c. 1800–1600 BC). These data integrate the results obtained from two other sites located on the western side of the island (sites 8-B-76 and 8-B-81). Despite the poor preservation of pollen, the integration of data from the studied sites provides information on the environmental changes and potential for plant exploitation in the eastern Sahelian-Saharan region. A substantial environmental diversity between the west and east sides of Sai Island emerges, revealing that in the late Early Holocene and first part of the Middle Holocene the land near the river was characterised by a mosaic of habitats, with dramatic floods on the eastern side and seasonal dried-up areas on the western side. This region supplied water even during the dry climatic phases and provided humans with mosaic habitats within short distances, giving access to plants (useful for food and other purposes) which lived in swamps and marshes, wooded savannahs, grasslands or desert savannahs.

The present communication deals with the extraction of palynomorphs, especially pollen grains and spores, from modern tree bark samples collected from the Korba District of Chhattisgarh State, central India. The principal aim of the study is to understand the aerobiological implications of the extracted and recovered palynomorphs in and around the area in question. Besides this, understanding the potential of the substrate in establishing the relationship between modern pollen rain and extant vegetation growing in and around the study area is another objective of the present study. Most of the samples are not very productive and yielded low numbers of palynomorphs, although aerobiologically, the study could be helpful in assessing the allergenicity of the recovered pollen/spores in the area of investigation, relevant to society. However, the substrate could not be used to clearly establish the modern pollen rain and vegetation relationship in the study area. Moreover, it may, in association with other natural pollen trapping substrates and/or various mechanical pollen traps/pollen samplers, be used in generating background information, but with a caveat, for palaeocological and palaeoclimatological studies.

Passifloraceae sensu lato currently encompasses Malesherbiaceae, Turneraceae and Passifloraceae sensu stricto, with Malesherbiaceae being the sister of Turneraceae + Passifloraceae sensu stricto. In Brazil, Turneraceae is represented by the genera Piriqueta and Turnera, and Piriqueta in turn is represented by 38 species. The main objective of this study was to characterise the pollen grains of species of Piriqueta, since few works have addressed the pollen morphology of this genus. The intention is to contribute to a more precise delimitation of taxa, compare pollen morphology between Piriqueta and Passifloraceae sensu lato, and provide characters for future phylogenetic analyses. The pollen of 14 species of Piriqueta occurring in Brazil was studied. The pollinic material was acetolysed, measured and described, electron photomicrographs were taken, and multivariate analysis was conducted. The species analysed are characterised by having pollen grains that are in monads, isopolar, medium sized (25.0–49.9 µm) or large (50.0–100.0 µm), 3-colporate, with short or long colpi, a lalongate or nearly circular endoaperture, and a microreticulate or reticulate sexine, and are heterobrochate and simplicolumellate. The principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) confirm the separation of species using quantitative pollen grain variables. In relation to the patterns of the exine and the number of apertures, the genus Piriqueta differs from Passiflora in possessing pollen that is 3-colporate and has only a microreticulate or reticulate exine. The analysis of pollen morphology of the genera Piriqueta and Passiflora does not support the inclusion of the family Turneraceae (here represented by Piriqueta) in Passifloraceae sensu lato since the pollen characters do not correspond to the monophyletic grouping of Passifloraceae sensu lato.

Four stratigraphic cores (7533/2-U-1, 2-U-2, 3-U-7 and 7534/4-U-1) drilled in the Sentralbanken High provide important reference sections for the Upper Triassic succession in the northern Barents Sea. The cores span the De Geerdalen, Flatsalen and Svenskøya formations (Kapp Toscana Group), which are equivalent to the Snadd to middle Fruholmen formations of the southern Barents Sea. Only cursory palynological study of the cores has been conducted previously, and no published palynofacies data is available. We present a detailed palynostratigraphy from the cores, and describe six informal palynological assemblages. Comparison with independently dated sections from elsewhere in the region enables a revised age interpretation of early Carnian to Norian for the cored interval, thereby improving correlation between Sentralbanken, Svalbard and the southern Barents Sea. A dominance of amorphous organic matter (AOM) and marine palynomorphs indicates a distal suboxic-anoxic marine depositional environment for the lower De Geerdalen Formation, with an abrupt change to a nearshore marine environment above an erosion surface in core 7534/4-U-1. Palynofacies from the remainder of the formation are characterised by a dominance of phytoclasts and are interpreted as indicative of a delta front to coastal plain environment. The reappearance of AOM, microforaminiferal test linings and marine microphytoplankton in the Flatsalen Formation in cores 7533/2-U-1 and 2-U-2 reflects a regional transgression of early Norian age. Reworked palynomorphs, shale rip-up clasts and a transition to phytoclast-dominated palynofacies above an erosion surface at the base of the overlying Svenskøya Formation is consistent with a disconformity, which was previously identified as a possible sequence boundary on the neighbouring island of Hopen.

Quaternary palaeoclimatic studies in India, with reference to palynology, commenced in the early part of the twentieth century. Sporadic studies continued until the 1940s. A watershed in palynological research in the country occurred in the late 1940s, primarily with the inception of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany (recently renamed the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences). Since then, other academic centres and universities have also steadily contributed in augmenting palynological research in India. Preliminary studies, though seemingly rudimentary, nonetheless helped in the expansion of the palynological database for the country. The pioneering workers, in spite of limited resources, did a creditable job in undertaking palynological studies across a vast territory. Earlier, studies were limited to local data generation; recent research has featured stronger global contextualisation. This includes the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), Younger Dryas (YD), Holocene Climatic Optimum (HCO), Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and Little Ice Age (LIA). The recent progress of palynology in India, with reference to Quaternary palaeoclimatic studies, is discussed and reviewed in this article.

In the southern high latitudes, dinoflagellate cysts are an important microfossil group for both biostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental interpretations purposes. In light of this, the peridinioid dinoflagellate cyst Nucicla umbiliphora gen. et sp. nov. from the Antarctic margin is formally described. Nucicla is dorsoventrally compressed, has a rounded pentagonal outline in dorso-ventral view, an epicyst that is only half as high as the hypocyst, an unusual archaeopyle formed by the loss of the three anterior intercalary plates, and a posterior sulcal plate that is positioned at the antapex. The species N. umbiliphora is characterised by a scabrate cyst wall and possesses undulated and/or crenulated folds/ridges. It has been so far exclusively found in Quaternary sediments obtained from the East Antarctic continental shelf and the Ross Sea. Although the dinoflagellate producing this cyst is as yet unknown, its brown color and the lack of autofluorescence suggest that the motile cell is likely a heterotrophic Protoperidinium species. As such, N. umbiliphora might benefit from the phytoplankton blooms occurring close to the Antarctic margin after seasonal sea-ice retreat.

Since the production of three literature compilations in 2012, 2013 and 2014, 266 further published contributions on Triassic, Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) dinoflagellate cysts were issued between April 2014 and January 2018, or have been discovered. These 266 items are listed alphabetically herein with full details, including digital object identifier (doi) numbers where applicable. A full description of each publication as a string of keywords is given. These studies are placed in one or more of 14 global regions, and the most significant contributions are reviewed for all these areas except Central America. The region with the most studies is West Europe (37.2%), but sub-Arctic Russia (10.5%), the Arctic region (10.2%), East Europe (7.1%) and sub-Arctic North America (4.1%) are also well represented. The proportions of these publications over the Triassic, Early Jurassic, Middle Jurassic, Late Jurassic and Jurassic–Cretaceous transition intervals are relatively similar. However, the Middle Jurassic is best represented, and the Triassic has the smallest number of contributions.

This paper presents the stratigraphic distribution and taxonomy of 62 dinoflagellate cyst species found in 85 samples from early Turonian strata exposed at Votorantim Quarry in northeastern Brazil. The early Turonian age assignment is based on calcareous nannofossils together with the organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts Cribroperidinium muderongense, Canningia reticulata, Florentinia resex, Impletosphaeridium williamsii, Kallosphaeridium? ringnesiorum, Trichodinium boltenhagenii and Xenascus plotei, which are commonly found in early Turonian strata. The genera Subtilisphaera and Palaeohystrichophora are emended, Palaeohystrichophora cheit is reassigned to Subtilisphaera cheit, and is considered a senior synonym of Palaeohystrichophora palaeoinfusa. Canningia reticulata is regarded as a senior synonym of Canningia senonica, and Subtilisphaera pirnaensis is regarded as a separate species from Subtilisphaera perlucida, because morphological characteristics can be used to distinguish them. In this study many cosmopolitan species were found, but we could also observe species with tethyan affinities, such as S. cheit and X. plotei. These species have restricted geographic distribution around the equator and are common in the Cenomanian to Turonian in both hemispheres.