MITRA, MADHUMI AND JAMES E. MICKLE.* Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, Md 21853, Department of Botany, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695. - Aquilapollenites in the early Campanian of eastern North America.
The Late Cretaceous period witnessed the rapid radiation of angiosperms
along with the development of microfloral provinces namely Normapolles in
eastern North America and Europe and Aquilapollenites in western North
America and Asia. The Tar Heel Formation of the Black Creek Group has been
assigned an Early Campanian age based on invertebrate faunal and
palynological data. Samples from Goldsboro and Tar River localities of the
Tar Heel beds showed the abundant occurrence of two western Aquilapollenites
species in addition to diverse Normapolles grains. Based on these earlier
studies, it was unclear whether the occurrence of grains of this western
element at the Goldsboro and Tar River localities was due to
Aquilapollenites-producing plants being present or to long distance
dispersal. To resolve the controversy of occurrence of Aquilapollenites in
the east, this study was expanded to other localities of the Tar Heel
Formation including those that yielded Aquilapollenites. A total of 103
samples from Elizabethtown, Goldsboro, Ivanhoe, Lock, Tar River and Willis
Creek localities of the Tar Heel Formation were investigated for
palynomorphs. Most of these samples yielded rich assemblage of Normapolles
grains. Species of Basopollis, Complexiopollis, Labrapollis, Plicapollis,
Pseudoplicapollis, Trudopollis, and tetraporate Normapolles were reported
from all the localities. Samples from the other localities did not yield
Aquilapollenites grains. The lack of grains at the other localities and in
additional samples from the original localities in this study suggests that
occurrence of Aquilapollenites grains is more likely to be due to long
distance dispersal of the western element during the Campanian.
Key words: Aquilapollenites Normapolles, palynology, Tar Heel Formation