Sprecher
Beschreibung
Late Cretaceous floras from Central Europe provide crucial insights into early platanoid evolution. This study analyses material recovered from the Cenomanian of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin and the Coniacian–Santonian of the South Bohemian Basins.
In the Czech Cenomanian, Platanaceae are represented by two types of staminate inflorescences borne on a common axis, varying in arrangement and size. Platananthus sp. displays small globular inflorescences consisting of male flowers with five stamens, featuring well-developed connectives, and five tepals. In contrast, large globular inflorescences associated with Ettingshausenia bohemica foliage consist presumably of four stamens, indicating a potentially tetramerous structure. Cenomanian foliage also includes E. laevis and E. cuneifolia. Within the Coniacian–Santonian of the South Bohemian Basins, the family is represented by the highly heterophyllous species Ettinghausenia senonensis and newly recovered staminate inflorescences reported in this study.
The new species of Quadriplatanus comes from the vicinity of České Budějovice, from the Klikov Formation (Coniacian–Santonian). The formation consists of fluvio-lacustrine infills of claystone and sandstone. Sediment abundant in plant material was bulk-macerated and sieved for mesofossils. The material shows globular inflorescences borne on a common axis. Each flower shows four tepals and four stamens with small connectives, bearing in situ prolate to spherical tricolporate pollen grains with a reticulate exine. All the Late Cretaceous platanoids are reconstructed as growing on alluvial plains of Cretaceous rivers, a habitat that mirrors the environment of extant Platanus species.