First Cretaceous flowers from Antarctica

This work documents the first Cretaceous flowers from Antarctica, and is one of few reports on Cretaceous flowers from the Southern Hemisphere as a whole. The flowers were recovered from a mesofossil assemblage from the Late Cretaceous (late Santonian, ca 85 Ma) Table Nunatak Formation, Antarctic Peninsula. All flowers are small, three-dimensional to slightly flattened and charcoalified. Eleven different types of flowers have been recognised. Five flower-types have a deep and cup-shaped hypanthium and several show features that indicate insect pollination. The systematic affinities of the flowers are difficult to establish with certainty, but three flowers may be related to extant Siparunaceae, Winteraceae and Myrtaceae, respectively. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.