Western Amazonia underwent dramatic changes in its landscape and environments during the Neogene, which led to its extant, hyperdiverse, tropical rainforest. Although the palynological fossil record has been the most useful proxy for understanding the history of the Amazonian biome, the floristic composition and diversity of the Neogene and the present Amazonian environments have never been thoroughly compared. In this work, we present preliminary comparisons of the pollen content of a Miocene core from the Solimões Formation in western Amazonia (Brazil) with the pollen content of Holocene sediments from flooded environments (várzeas and lake margins) near the Miocene site. We found a total of 463 pollen and spore types (Miocene, n = 284; Holocene, n = 231), only 52 of which were shared. The Holocene flooding environments displayed distinct palynological signals; both the Holocene and Miocene palynofloras have pollen primarily sourced from the local, flooded environments, with no significant differences in within-sample pollen diversity. The Holocene palynoflora was more heterogeneous in composition than the Miocene palynoflora, probably because the Miocene wetlands (the Pebas System) were highly homogeneous at a continental scale, far more than modern western Amazonia, thus implying that the spatial vegetation turnover was much lower than in modern ecosystems.

Palynological analysis and radiocarbon dating of a short sediment core from a high-altitude mire in the Arasbaran area of northwestern Iran reveals long-term vegetation dynamics, climate change and anthropogenic impact. Our findings indicate the prevalence of semi-desert steppe vegetation, with a variety of Asteraceae – mainly Lactuceae – species from 3000 to 1440cal yr BP. This period is followed by a higher occurrence of Artemisia spp. and Brassicaceae (1440–1330cal yr BP), a re-expansion of Lactuceae (1330–1030cal yr BP) and Brassicaceae (1030–330cal yr BP) and, finally, Caryophyllaceae species (since 330cal yr BP). The reconstructed millennia-long dry climate in the highlands of northwestern Iran is in good accordance with climate reconstructions from other east Mediterranean sites. Two phases of moister conditions between 2100–1400 and 1000–350cal yr BP would correspond to altitudinal Quercus–Carpinus forest expansion in the Arasbaran area. The earliest indication of anthropogenic activity in the area dates back to the onset of the record, around 3000cal yr BP. The occurrence of small maxima of Juglans regia, Corylus avellana and Cornus mas pollen at around 1350cal yr BP is interpreted to reflect a temporary expansion of fruit cultivation. For the last millennium the occurrence of pollen attributable to Polygonum, Euphorbia, Plantago and Rumex suggests a diversification of steppe vegetation, which may reflect intensified agropastoral activities in the Arasbaran highlands. Based on our pollen record, the regional vegetation in the Kalan area remained largely stable over the last three millennia. However, changes in local hydrology caused substantial changes in wetland vegetation.

A mid neritic-upper bathyal Ypresian section at Aktulagay, western Kazakhstan, has been analyzed palynologically. A number of key dinoflagellate cyst events are directly calibrated with published calcareous nannofossil data from the same section. The events are used to identify eight dinoflagellate cyst zones from a recently established zonation, used elsewhere in the eastern Peri-Tethys, and to calibrate these zones with the standard nannofossil zonation (NP zones). The events include the lowermost occurrences of Deflandrea oebisfeldensis (∼1%), Dracodinium simile, Eatonicysta ursulae, Dracodinium varielongitudum, Charlesdowniea coleothrypta, Ochetodinium romanum, Charlesdowniea columna, Samlandia chlamydophora, Areosphaeridium diktyoplokum, and Wetzeliella eocaenica. An important regional unconformity separates the Ypresian section from overlying non-calcareous strata with the age-diagnostic species Enneadocysta arcuata, Wetzeliella ovalis, Wilsonidium echinosuturatum, and Rhombodinium draco, indicating the Rhombodinium draco Zone of latest Lutetian–Bartonian age. Based on fluctuations of ecological groups of dinoflagellate cysts, a series of different depositional environments are interpreted and related to the existing sequence stratigraphic model of the section. In most cases dinoflagellate cyst agree with, or supplement, calcareous micro- and nannofossil indications, and support the sequence stratigraphic model. Impagidinium wardii sp. nov. is atypical for the otherwise oceanic genus as it bloomed in a mid-neritic environment. The first cooling at the end of the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO) is suggested to have caused a strong acme of Eatonicysta ursulae and distinct lowering of the sea level in the NP13 zone. Four new species are formally described: Cribroperidinium cavagnettiae sp. nov., Dracodinium robertknoxii sp. nov., Impagidinium wardii sp. nov., and Samlandia chriskingii sp. nov. The Aktulagay Formation of King et al. (2013) is renamed the Kulsary Formation.

The first mid-Polish group is the youngest among the main Neogene lignite seams in Poland. Lignites of this group developed in the middle Miocene over almost the whole of Poland, and therefore they are an important correlation horizon throughout much of the Polish Lowlands. A total of 30 palynological samples from the 3-metre seam from the Adamów deposit (central Poland) were studied in detail. The results revealed the presence of wetland and mesophytic vegetation during the time of sedimentation. The study area was overgrown by palustrine wetland communities similar in their composition to modern pocosins. The climate was warm temperate and humid, which was inferred from the palynoflora composition, including frequency of palaeotropical and palaeotropical/warm-temperate taxa, and the presence of epihyllous fungi. The estimated mean annual temperature (MAT) for the lignite seam at Adamów is 15.7–18.0°C. Comparison with other palynofloras from the first mid-Polish lignite seam group shows that the climate was more or less homogenous within the entire Polish Lowlands during formation of the group of seams. The MAT ranges are also similar to other results from middle Miocene of Central Europe. The differences between the Adamów palynoflora and palynofloras from central and western Poland, dominated by swamp forests, most probably reflect the succession of plant communities in different hydrological and trophic conditions.

Nineteen Neotropical species of the genus Dioscorea L. were subjected to palynological analysis with the objectives of increasing palynological knowledge and identifying characteristics with taxonomic and phylogenetic value. More specifically, the aim was to identify characters that distinguish species and help to resolve relationships among New World clades (i.e. clades NW I, NW II and NW III). Botanical material was obtained from exsiccates deposited in various herbaria. Pollen grains were treated by lactic acetolysis, measured, described, photomicrographed and submitted to statistical analysis. Non-acetolyzed pollen grains were deposited on carbon tape for scanning electron microscopy analysis. The results separate species of Dioscorea into six pollen types based on sexine ornamentation: reticulate, perforate, microreticulate, vermiculate, rugulate and spiculate. The pollen grains of species of Dioscorea are characterized by having monosulcate and disulcate apertures, sometimes in the same specimen (e.g. D. anomala, D. campestris and D. glandulosa). Traditionally accepted taxonomic sections of Dioscorea were not corroborated. Reassessment of established subgenera awaits a better understanding and recognition of phylogenetic lineages.

Six tablets, probably an ancient collyrium, were discovered in a tin pyxis recovered during the archaeological excavation of the so-called Pozzino shipwreck found in the Baratti gulf, near Piombino (Tuscany, Italy). The tablets were previously studied from a historical point of view; micro-morphological and chemical analyses were then performed to establish their composition. In addition, the tablets were subjected to pollen investigation, which revealed the occurrence of a significant amount of pollen grains. The list of pollen morphotypes is long and suggests multiple sources for the grains. Many of the morphotypes belong to Olea; many others belong to plants which display showy flowers and are commonly visited by bees, confirming the presence of a bee product already detected by the chemical analysis. The present paper focuses on the analysis of the pollen content of the medicine and offers conclusions resulting from its study. We hypothesize that the olive pollen grains were added to the tablets together with one or more ingredients, such as pollen bread and/or oleum acerbum (an oil obtained by pressing unripened drupes and which was used in antiquity for therapeutic applications).

The purposes of this study were to provide palynological information about apricots and to reveal the relationships among six ecological groups of apricots by describing the morphological characteristics of their pollen. The pollen grains of 175 accessions belonging to three species (Prunus armeniaca L., Prunus sibirica L., and Prunus mume Sieb. et Zucc.) of Prunus were examined using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The pollen grains were isopolar monads, radially symmetric, medium to large in size, prolate or subprolate, and 3-colporate. Most pollen grains exhibited striate exine ornamentation, and a few exhibited striato-reticulate or cerebroid exine ornamentation. Cluster analysis divided the six ecological groups into two groups: one including the Central Asian, North China, and Dzhungar-Ili ecological group accessions and another including the Northeast Asian, European, and East China ecological group accessions. Principal component analysis revealed that equatorial diameter, colpus length, colpus width, and ridge width were the most important metrical pollen traits, and can be used as powerful diagnostic characters in apricot identification. We speculated that the cultivated apricots in Xinjiang were domesticated from wild apricots from the Ili Valley. This study describes the morphological characteristics of apricot pollen grains and provides some morphological information for future studies on the phylogenetic relationships of apricots.

A new dinoflagellate cyst genus and species are described here as Hiddenocysta gen. nov. and Hiddenocysta matsuokae sp. nov. from Holocene sediments in a core from the west coast of Vancouver Island (British Columbia, Canada). The genus Hiddenocysta encompasses spherical to ovoid skolochorate cysts, characterized by a gonyaulacoid plate pattern and a 2P precingular archeopyle. The species H. matsuokae is characterized by a granular wall and slender trifurcate processes with heavily perforated process bases. Two end members are described here based on process morphology and number of processes (formas 1 and 2). Cyst wall chemistry is analyzed using micro-Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and reveals a unique dinosporin composition consistent with a gonyaulacoid autotrophic feeding strategy.

In western Amazonia, palynology has been the main source of chronological information for the Neogene Period. The Solimões Formation in northwestern Brazil has hundreds of meters of fine-grained rocks that have yielded rich pollen records informing on age and paleoenvironments. Here, we present new pollen data for two boreholes (1-AS-33-AM and 1-AS-37-AM) in the Solimões Basin and one outcrop (Patos) in the Acre Basin, and describe 36 new taxa (two pteridophyte spores and 34 angiosperm pollen) plus one emendation. Palynostratigraphic zonation schemes from Venezuela and Colombia were analyzed critically to provide relative ages for our sections. We found core 33AM to span pollen zones T14 (∼16–14.2Ma), T15 (14.2–12.7Ma) and T16 (12.7–7.1Ma) sensu Jaramillo et al. (2011), while core 37AM spans zones T15? and T16. We also report the widespread occurrence of Cyatheacidites annulatus in outcrops of the Solimões Formation, implying the existence of latest Miocene (∼7Ma) to Pliocene sedimentation and suggesting ages older than ∼7Ma for the uppermost sediments of our boreholes. Biostratigraphic relationships also indicate that Echitricolporites mcneillyi and Ladakhipollenites? caribbiensis cannot be used as Pliocene markers as previously assigned. The implications of these results for the palynostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental reconstructions of western Amazonia are discussed.

Seven semi-consolidated surface sediment samples from the tidal flats along the southern Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia were studied for their palynomorph assemblages. These samples are mainly clay and fine sand and yielded low numbers but high diversity of palynomorphs. They have various affinities and have been divided into five groups: (A) pollen and spores; (B) dinoflagellate cysts and algal remains; (C) fungal spores, hyphae and fruit bodies; (D) protists and invertebrate remains; and (E) miscellaneous and unidentified forms. The protists and invertebrate remains are a diverse group that includes microforaminifera, thecamoebians, tintinnomorphs, crustacean and annelid palynomorphs. These palynomorphs belong to both marine and terrestrial environments and are of autochthonous and allochthonous origins. An attempt has been made to identify each palynomorph and relate it to its parent organism, plant or animal, and to discuss its environment. This is the first such study in and around the Arabian Peninsula.

As one of the remaining living links with two early Scandinavian researchers, the author examines their contribution to Bill Evitt's breakthrough that launched the development of fossil dinoflagellate cysts into palynology. Evitt, in the early 1960s, revealed that many fossil hystrichospheres were in fact dinoflagellate cysts. Trygve Braarud, a Norwegian phytoplankton biologist, and Gunnar Erdtman, a Swedish palynologist, collaborated in 1954 to identify the first examples of living hystrichospheres as dinoflagellate cysts. This and a related study by the Norwegian Erling Nordli provided important evidence for Evitt's breakthrough in 1961, but the wider palynological literature does not yet reflect the full significance of the Scandinavian work. Copies of correspondence between Braarud and Erdtman reproduced here together with the author's personal observations help to clarify the extent to which this earlier work influenced the breakthrough. The Scandinavians were not aware at the time of the wider significance of their work for palynology, realized only later through Evitt's perception. Reexamining this Scandinavian connection now therefore in no way detracts from Evitt's pivotal role in launching ‘dinos’ into palynology. This example from palynology shows details of how exciting breakthroughs in science often happen, as work in separate but related fields is coalesced into a larger, more significant concept.

A detailed palynological study was conducted in the lower Palaeozoic of the Zagros Basin (southwestern Iran) where the Mila and Ilbeyk formations are present in several areas. The Mila Formation mainly consists of dolostones, limestones and shales deposited in a shallow marine to outer ramp environment. It is conformably overlain by the Ilbeyk Formation, characterised by shales and sandstones with scattered limestone intervals deposited in a setting extending from shoreface to low-energy offshore environments. The palynological investigation of the Mila and Ilbeyk formations from the Chalisheh, Ghalikuh and Oshtorankuh areas allows the establishment of three palynozones. These can be well correlated with the palynozonations from adjacent areas and/or with middle–late Cambrian sections independently dated with trilobites. These correlations are useful for the age determination of the Cambrian successions from southern Iran. The Cambrian assemblages exhibit close affinities with microfloras from peri-Gondwana (including the countries belonging to the Avalonia microcontinent in the Early Ordovician) and Baltica, confirming that these palaeogeographical domains were part of the same large bioprovince, as shown in current palaeogeographical maps.