European Palaeobotany and Palynology Conference 2026

A new group of early land plants, the Eophytidae (eophytes), was recently proposed. It is based on specimens exceptionally preserved by charcoalification from the late Silurian (Pridoli) Ludford Lane and Early Devonian (Lochkovian) North Brown Clee Hill Lagerstätten. One of the chief characteristics of eophytes is that they produced cryptospores. Taxa with in situ spores contain either...

The Battery Point Formation, exposed in eastern Quebec (Canada), hosts mid- to late Emsian fossil assemblages preserved as adpressions and permineralizations. At least 17 euphyllophyte taxa are known to date from permineralizations in this unit. We add to these five new euphyllophyte morphotypes described from permineralizations. Three of the five have Psilophyton-type tracheids typical of...

The intra-continental Saar-Nahe basin formed in a half-graben structure during the variscan orogeny recording 40 mio years in 6500m of Carboniferous to Permian deposits.
Large scale coal formation occurred in the Westphalian and Stephanian stages of the upper Carboniferous. Excellent preservation of plant fossils focused interest on the floras since the 19th century with emphasis on...

Atmospheric CO2 and drought are key parameters of climate change. Both have profound impact on plant performance and therewith on both the carbon and hydrological cycle. Analysis of stable carbon isotope ratios in plant tissues is a common methods to determine ecophysiological responses as this data can provide information about a plant’s photosynthetic activity throughout its life.

Here,...

Noeggerathiales are an extinct group of plants that existed during the Late Palaeozoic, with approximately 20 genera and 97 species reported to date. Although their first description dates back more than 200 years, the research on the phylogenetic relationships among the various genera within this order remains limited, and Noeggerathiales have only recently been assigned to the progymnosperms...

The Late Palaeozoic Ice Age (LPIA) was the Earth’s most intense Phanerozoic glacial event, now seen as a dynamic succession of glacial and nonglacial intervals during Carboniferous–Permian times. It has been hypothesized that the LPIA is linked to a CO2 decline partly driven by the colonization and diversification of land plants. Based on a new comprehensive compendium of late Palaeozoic...

Tree ferns dominated the tropical and subtropical forest canopies of the late Carboniferous to early Permian, most belonging to the eusporangiate order Marattiales. However, most Paleozoic tree fern fossils are preserved as isolated organs, such as fragmented pinnae or petrified rachis segments, thereby limiting integrated morphological and anatomical studies. The early Permian Wuda Tuff...

Highly allochthonous plant megafossil assemblages from Bearreraig, Skye, offer a rare opportunity to study the well preserved anatomy of several Middle Jurassic tracheophytes. Deposited in fully marine stenohaline conditions offshore from multiple river discharges, the 14 plant-bearing horizons spanemphasized text ~110 m (5 MYr) of early Aalenian to early Bajocian strata. They have yielded ~16...

Out of the seed plants of the Mesozoic, the order Ginkgoales stands out due to a combination of several factors. Not only were they present from the beginning of Triassic until the K/Pg mass extinction, but their geographic range was also global with remains having been found on all continents (including Antarctica). Perhaps most importantly, however, a single species -Gingko biloba- has...

When looking at Earth history, there are four recognisable durations where resin production and preservation were greatly enhanced. These were the (1) Late Triassic (Carnian), (2) Cretaceous, (3) Eocene, and (4) Oligo-Miocene amber bursts. The rather short Carnian amber burst has been linked to the major climatic upheaval of the Carnian Pluvial Episode and its consequences for the terrestrial...

The Paleogene was marked by a sudden rise in temperatures, which peaked during the Paleocene–Eocene transition and was followed by a climatic optimum during the early and middle Eocene. In the Paris Basin, the presence of palm trees (Arecaceae) in the fossil record has been documented since 1810. Numerous palm leaves, fruits, stems, and pollen grains have been described over the last 200...

Leguminosae is a monophyletic family composed of ca. 19,000 species distributed worldwide and growing from deserts to wet tropical forests. The Leguminosae fossil record is relatively abundant and diverse, comprising leaflets, wood, fruits, flowers, and pollen. Nevertheless, this diversity – in particular when based on the leaf fossil record – should be interpreted with caution because...

Lake Sevan represents one of the most important freshwater ecosystems in the Caucasus region and serves as a unique center of biodiversity. Paleoenvironmental and palaeobotanical investigations from the Tsovinar-1 peat section reveal that Middle to Late Holocene lake-level fluctuations strongly influenced terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity in the region. Analyses of pollen, macro- and...

The Eastern Adriatic provides a promising archive of Holocene plant biodiversity, framed by post-glacial climatic recovery and anthropogenic environment tempering processes which ultimately sculpted the modern Mediterranean biome. This study synthesizes regional palynological and geochemical datasets, focusing predominantly on published studies from the Kornati Archipelago and Mljet to track...

Lateglacial sediments from subalpine lakes in the Rila Mountain (2925 m) were investigated by pollen analysis, radiocarbon dating, macrofossil content and sedimentology. The aims of the study were to: a) reconstruct the flora and vegetation dynamics; b) establish regional radiocarbon chronology; c) define the climate fluctuations and their impact on the vegetation and environment. The...

The spatially complex area of the Southern Caucasus is a unique laboratory to study the regional impact of global climatic changes on vegetation. Pollen archives from the Armenian Highlands and western Georgian lowlands reflect the diversity of landscapes as well as the regional differences of Early Pleistocene Glacial-Interglacial variability.
In southern Armenia, pollen data document a...