A number of fossil floras with angiosperm floral structures have been discovered over the past years from the Early and Late Cretaceous of Portugal.From the Early Cretaceous samples from five different areas have been particularly productive: Torres Vedras, Catefica, Vale de Agua, Famalicão, and Buarcos. Material from these floras has provided unique material for studying the earliest major phases of angiosperm radiation. Many of the fossils apparently belongs to extinct lineages of angiosperms, while others that can be assigned to modern taxa at the family level or below mainly belong to basal branches of the angiosperm phylogenetic tree such as ANITA grade angiosperms, Chloranthaceae, Araceae, Ranunculales, and Buxales. In situ pollen and evidence from the floral structures indicate that eudicots constitute a minor part of the fossil assemblages, while the majority of taxa belong to magnoliids (sensu lato) and monocots.
Among the Late Cretaceous floras current research is focused on two floras from the Campanian/Maastrichtian: the Esgueira flora and the Mira flora. Both floras are rich in eudicot angiosperms and have yielded the most complete Normapolles flowers known so far.
Publications on Portugal
Coworkers:
Kaj Raunsgaard Pedersen, Aarhus
Peter Crane, Kew
Maria von Balthazar, Sweden
Print page
