Pollen of the Asteraceae from the Paleocene-Eocene of South Africa

Two species of dispersed pollen (Tubuliforidites antipodica and T. viteauensis) that have affinity with the Asteraceae were recovered from Paleocene-Eocene sediments of South Africa. This is the earliest unequivocal record of the Asteraceae. The two species were examined with light, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy. The pollen wall structure of both taxa are of the Anthemoid type, a pollen wall structural type considered to be primitive among asteraceous pollen. The wall structure type is indicative of many taxa of the Mutisieae. The appearance of this pollen type in the Paleocene-Eocene of South Africa supports a early Tertiary, west Gondwana origin of the Asteraceae, and the evolutionary basal position of the Mutisieae.