The ultrastructure of anthers, staminodes, and pollen of Mangifera indica L. was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and pollen viability assessed using light (LM) and fluorescence microscopy (FM). Ultrastructural observation revealed anther surfaces with polygonal cells and hollow centres arranged in a reticulate manner, with swollen cells on the edges of the anther surfaces. Anther dehiscence is longitudinal, with pollen released through a long slit in both thecae. The average length and width of staminodes of male and hermaphroditic flowers measured 0.7 mm × 0.35 mm and 0.65 mm × 0.3 mm, respectively. Distinct ridge and hook-like outgrowths on the adaxial surface of staminodes are described, as are staminode surfaces comprised of long, irregular cells with stomata exuding nectar. Staminodes produced no pollen. Anthers of male flowers produced more pollen grains (536–537) than did anthers of hermaphrodite flowers (510–511). Pollen grains are tricolporate, have reticulate perforate exine ornamentation, and are bi-cellular at dispersal. Anther and staminode size and pollen production was greater but not significantly different in male versus hermaphrodite flowers. In contrast, the fluorochromatic reaction (FCR) test and FM observations found significantly higher pollen viabilities in hermaphroditic (50.1%) versus male (40.4%) flowers. This research provides new ultrastructural characters potentially useful in future taxonomic studies of mango and other Anacardiaceae. Results presented here may also be useful in pollination studies, and in the improvement of mango breeding programmes and commercial fruit production.

This study documents ‘colonial' palynomorphs from the Upper Ordovician Ghelli Formation of northeastern Iran. The aggregates of organic-walled microfossils come from the Katian Armoricochitina nigerica–Ancyrochitina merga chitinozoan biozones of this formation. The ‘colonial' microfossils can be classified as acritarchs and/or cryptospores, but they cannot be attributed to a particular biological group. Some specimens resemble ‘thalli' of putative spores, such as Grododowon orthogonalisStrother 2017. Other clusters may suggest an affinity to green algal groups, in particular to colonial chlorophyceaen algae, most probably belonging to Hydrodictyaceae. Some specimens also show morphological similarities with cyanobacterial groups. There is so far no evidence to relate these ‘colonial’ palynomorphs to primitive land plants, but we hypothesise that they were possibly produced by ancient green algal lineages with some kind of subaerial existence.

Fungal remains similar to those described as Desmidiospora willoughbyi were found in samples from the Río Foyel section (El Foyel Group of Paleogene age), Ñirihuau Basin, Argentina. A full description and illustrations are presented. The names D. willoughbyi and D. marginiconvoluta as defined are shown to be inadequate. The history of the names and actual affinity of taxa presently assigned to those names are discussed. Arguments against the use of Desmidiospora for fungal remains other than the conidia of an entomopathogenic species are presented. Instead, the lobulate fossil remains should be treated as germlings or immature ascomata from epiphyllous fungi of polyphyletic origin.

Pollen morphology of 79 species, one subspecies and eight varieties representing nine genera of tribe Alsineae and two of tribe Sperguleae was studied using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Among them, 53 species and eight varieties (22 species of which are endemic to China) were reported for the first time. The results demonstrate that the number of pores, the pollen surface ornamentation and the density of microechini have important systematic significance. The surface ornamentation can be divided into three types, namely microechinate-perforate, microechinate-punctate, and microechinate-punctate-perforate. Pollen characteristics support: (i) isolation of Arenaria subgenus Odontostemma from Arenaria and reclassification of Arenaria subgenus Odontostemma to Odontostemma; (ii) isolation of Cerastium subgenus Dichodon from Cerastium and reclassification of Cerastium subgenus Dichodon to Dichodon; (iii) isolation of Minuartia subgenus Rhodalsine from Minuartia and reclassification of Minuartia subgenus Rhodalsine to Rhodalsine; (iv) isolation of Rhodalsine from tribe Alsineae and reclassification of Rhodalsine into tribe Sperguleae; and (v) isolation of Sagina from tribe Alsineae. In addition, the relationships of Arenaria subgenus Eremogone and Arenaria subgenus Eremogoneastrum to tribe Alsineae need to be further studied. Furthermore, pollen characteristics indicate that tribe Alsineae is more evolved than tribe Sperguleae.

This renewed palynological study of the Mount Johnstone Formation, at Balickera in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales (eastern Australia), discloses a considerably more diverse palynoflora – termed the Grandispora maculosa Assemblage – than was reported in 1968. Represented are some 51 species of palynomorphs, comprising 46 species of trilete spores (distributed among 27 genera), three species of monolete spores (three genera), one species of hilate spores, and a single algal-cyst species. The following species are newly instituted: Verrucosisporites adgeratus, V. johnstonense, V. pavimentatus, Anapiculatisporites robertsii, Convolutispora perplicata, Knoxisporites balickeraensis, Densoisporites argutus, Laevigatosporites demutabilis, and Latosporites durabilis. Quantitatively important and/or consistently represented species include Reticulatisporites magnidictyus (particularly), Punctatisporites spp., Verrucosisporites spp., Rattiganispora apiculata, Grandispora maculosa, Indotriradites kuttungensis, Velamisporites australiensis, Laevigatosporites demutabilis, and Psomospora detecta. The absence of marine palynomorphs supports the previously envisaged, predominantly fluvial deposition of the Mount Johnstone Formation. Key palynostratigraphic indices, in conjunction with absolute-age determinations obtained from sub- and suprajacent rocks, indicate that the G. maculosa palynoflora and its hosting Mount Johnstone strata are Mississippian – specifically middle–late Visean – in age. This dating also applies to similarly palyniferous deposits in the northern Perth and Carnarvon basins of Western Australia. Beyond Eastern Gondwana, equivalents of the G. maculosa association have been reported from Western Gondwana (Brazil and Argentina in particular) and, to a lesser extent, from Northern Gondwana, thus attesting to its wide distribution and chronostratigraphic significance within the supercontinent and its distinctiveness vis-à-vis Euramerican regions.

In this paper we examine pollen types from four representative subfamilies of Euphorbiaceae in southern China, including 34 species (21 genera) of Crotonoideae, Euphorbioideae, Acalyphoideae and Phyllanthoideae. The morphology of the investigated species is described and illustrated with high-resolution photographs observed by transmitted light microscope. These descriptions and illustrations are presented at the species level, and pollen types and identifying features are also noted. This study is a complementary contribution to Quaternary pollen analysis, and should aid in the identification of pollen types assigned to Euphorbiaceae, especially in Southern China, as well as elsewhere in the tropical and subtropical regions of East Asia.

The palynology (150 species of pollen grains, 43 species of spores, eight species of dinoflagellate cysts, five genera of algae, two genera of fungal spores, foraminiferal linings, and copepod eggs) of the Neogene succession in the Marañon Basin, north Peru, was thoroughly investigated for the first time from six industrial wells (Arabela-1X, Maynas-1, Tucunare-1X, Tigrillo-30X, Nahuapa-24X, and La Frontera-1). Six palynozones spanning the Early Miocene to the Early Pliocene were defined. The zones in stratigraphically ascending order are as follows: the Mar-A Corsinipollenites oculusnoctis Zone (Aquitanian to early Burdigalian: 23.03–17.71 Ma), delimited by the appearance of Acaciapollenites myriosporites, Retitricolporites wijmstrae and/or Corsinipollenites oculusnoctis and/or the disappearance of Cicatricosisporites dorogensis at the base; the Mar-B Malvacipolloides (Echitricolporites) maristellae Zone (Burdigalian: 17.71–16.1 Ma), from Malvacipolloides maristellae at the base to the disappearance of Retitricolporites wijmstrae at the top; the Mar-C Mauritiidites crassibaculatus Zone (latest Burdigalian to Late Langhian: 16.1–14.2/13.9 Ma), from the appearance of Grimsdalea magnaclavata at the base to the disappearance of Retitriporites dubiosus and/or the appearance of Crassoretitriletes vanraadshooveni and/or Psilastephanoporites tesseroporus; the Mar-D Crassoretitriletes vanraadshooveni Zone (Late Serravallian: 14.2–11.62 Ma), from the appearance of Crassoretitriletes vanraadshooveni and/or Psilastephanoporites tesseroporus to the disappearances of Mauritiidites crassibaculatus, Bombacacidites nacimientoensis, and Cyathidites congoensis; and the Mar-E Psilastephanoporites tesseroporus Zone (Early Tortonian to Late Messinian: 11.62–5.48 Ma) from the disappearance of Corsinipollenites oculusnoctis and/or Cyathidites congoensis to the disappearance of Psilastephanoporites tesseroporus and/or Siltaria santaisabelensis. These zones were corroborated by means of events ordination demonstrated using graphic correlation. The Mar-F Ctenolophonidites suigeneris Zone (latest Messinian to Zanclean) is described only in the Frontera-1 well from the disappearance of Psilastephanoporites tesseroporus to the last record of Ctenolophonidites suigeneris and/or Siltaria hammenii. This study suggests that Pliocene sedimentation is also recorded in the Western Amazonia of Peru, and provides new palynological information compared with the Mio–Pliocene Solimões, Acre, and eastern Amazonas basins.

Pollen grains of seven Jasione (Campanulaceae) taxa from Turkey were investigated: J. heldreichii Boiss & Orph., J. idaea Stoj., J. montana L., J. supina subsp. supina, J. supina subsp. pontica, J. supina subsp. akmanii, and J. supina subsp. tmolea. Four of the investigated taxa were in the VU (vulnerable) category and one is in the LC (least concern) category (categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature). The basic shape of the pollen grains was prolate-spheroidal and oblate-spheroidal; the apertures vary from triporate- to tetra-porate. The sculpturing pattern of exine was microechinate. Two types were recognised according to the pollen shape. Type I is prolate-spheroidal, whereas Type II is oblate-spheroidal. This research will be helpful to explain the relationships among the genera of Campanulaceae and provides insights for future phylogenetic research.

The Western Carpathians have recently been examined in several palaeoecological studies. However, some of their parts remain underexplored in terms of the Holocene history of mountain woodlands. We analysed an 8000-year-old peat sequence from the southern part of the Western Carpathians (the Bykovo site) for pollen, needles and stomata, and reviewed the data on the occurrence and spread of beech since the Last Glacial times in order to put results from Bykovo into the context of the whole Western Carpathians. For pre-industrial times, we reconstructed mixed beech–fir or beech–fir–spruce woodlands in zonal habitats, noble hardwood woodlands on screes, and spruce woodlands in peaty and wet habitats. A meta-analysis of available pollen data for beech revealed that a few sites in Pannonia and on the southern Carpathian fringes reached beech pollen abundances exceeding 0.5% at the very beginning of the Holocene (12–10 cal BP). Moreover, the pattern of reaching greater pollen abundance limits showed a clear south-to-north gradient starting in the Pannonian lowland. Therefore, the direction of the spread of beech based on pollen abundances and the absence of beech macrofossil evidence during the Last Glacial Maximum do not support local glacial refugia of beech directly in the Western Carpathians. The timing of local beech occurrence (empirical pollen limit of 1.4–2%) and its expansion (rational pollen limit of up to 5%) at the Bykovo site fits well this gradual spread of beech from the south. The first period of beech spread in the Bykovo area around 6250 cal BP coincides well with the period of increased precipitation between 6100 and 6800 cal BP, as reconstructed by different proxies (e.g. stable isotopes) for the Western Carpathians.

Paisley 5 Mile Point Caves, Oregon, U.S.A. offer a unique perspective on Native Americans living in the Great Basin during the Younger Dryas. The cave sediments are mixed with abundant, disaggregated, packrat coprolites. We developed a technique for processing these packrat coprolites. Using this technique, this study analyses fifteen packrat coprolite samples separated from sediments collected from the sidewall of a test unit within Paisley Caves #2. The results were then used to create a paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the region. This reconstruction was then compared to a previous reconstruction based on the fossil pollen in the sediment from the same site. The reconstructions were similar. However, we found that the packrat coprolites were prone to dietary biases that could mask the true paleovegetation of the area. By studying the differences and similarities of these two sample sets, we obtained a better understanding of how each set reflects the local environment.

Since the publication of four compilations issued between 2012 and 2019, 93 further published contributions on Triassic, Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous (Berriasian) dinoflagellate cysts from Africa, North America, South America, the Arctic, Australasia, East Europe, West Europe, the Middle East and Russia have been discovered in the literature, or were issued in the last 12 months (i.e. between February 2018 and January 2019). Of these, 55 were published during 2018 and 2019, making this period a very productive one. These studies are mostly on the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic of Europe. All the 93 items are listed herein with digital object identifier (doi) numbers where available, as well as a description of each item as a string of keywords. Publications on West Europe comprise 31.2% of the total, and items on Africa, the Arctic, Australasia, East Europe and Russia are also significant (15.1, 6.5, 7.5, 9.7 and 14.0%, respectively). The least well-represented regions are North America, South America and the Middle East (2.2, 1.1 and 1.1%, respectively).