Possible fossil sporae dispersae of hepaticae and anthocerotales in the fossil records

Abstract

The paper attempts to find the characters which can distinguish the spores of Hepaticae and Anthocerotales from iso- or micro-spores of pteridophytes and pollen grains of gymnosperms and angiosperms for the identification of possible fossil Sporae dispersae of bryophytes reported from different geological horizons. The problem was approached by looking for characters in fossil spores which are (i) exclusively bryophytic, (ii) prevailingly bryophytic, and (iii) closely matching characters of in situ spores of fossil bryophytes in a first-hand comparison. Our account also takes into consideration the Sporae dispersae which were described or suspected by previous workers as those of bryophytes but which could equally well belong to pteridophytes.