Caliciflora mauldiniensis E.M.Friis, K.R.Pedersen et P.R.Crane

Plant Fossil Names Registry Number: PFN002806

Act LSID: urn:lsid:plantfossilnames.org:act:2806

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

Rank: species

Genus: Caliciflora E.M.Friis, K.R.Pedersen et P.R.Crane

Reference: Friis, E. M., Pedersen, K. R. & Crane, P. R. (2016): The emergence of core eudicots: new floral evidence from the earliest Late Cretaceous. – Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences 283: 20161325 (9 pp.).

Page of description: 2

Illustrations or figures: figs 1–4

Name is type for

Types

Original diagnosis/description

Flower small, sessile, with an associated bract and two prophylls borne on a stout stalk. Staminate and pistillate organs in the same flower. Floral cup distinct. Perianth with five sepals and five petals borne on the rim of the floral cup. Sepals free, thick, with broad base and acute apex; sepal aestivation revolute-valvate. Petals free, broadening distally from a narrower base, keeled, with a thin lamina and median rib; petal aestivation open below, quincuncial above. Indumentum dense on the outer surfaces of the floral cup, sepals and petals composed of interlocking stellate hairs. Stamens in two whorls, minute with dithecate, tetrasporangiate and dorsifixed anthers. Pollen minute, tricolporate, psilate. Orbicules present. Gynoecium trimerous with three free carpels borne on the inside of the floral cup.

Etymology

Specific name from the Mauldin Mountain locality where the fossils were collected.

Stratigraphy

Cretaceous, Upper Cretaceous, Cenomanian
Elk Neck Beds, Potomac Group; Late Cretaceous (Early Cenomanian; lowermost palynological Zone III)

Locality

United States
West of Mauldin Mountain, Elk Neck Peninsula, MD, USA, (39°29′15″ N, 75°59′44″ W)