Late cretaceous megaspores from southern Sweden: Morphology and paleoenvironmental significance

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Abstract
The poorly consolidated clastic sediments of Late Cretaceous age in the vicinity of Asen, southern Sweden (Scania) are noted for the variety of fossil flowers and Normapolles pollen grains they have yielded. Megaspores have also been recovered from a number of horizons. Comments on, and illustrations of all but a few indeterminate remains of these are provided in this paper, and four new species, Bacutriletes ferulus, B. majorinus, Erlan‐sonisporites scanicus and E. septus, are erected. Comparison of the total recovery with the relatively small number of Late Cretaceous assemblages that have been described from elsewhere reveals only a few taxa in common. As a result, it is not possible to improve on the late Santonian‐early Campanian age determination that has already been established for the Asen deposits. It is reasonable to infer from the wall structure of the majority of the spores that they were shed by plants of either selaginellalean or isoetalean affinity. Their distribution within the Asen sequence supports the previously held view that the general environment of deposition changed from floodplain‐lacustrine to predominantly fluviatile during the time represented.