Examination of a Pollen Tetrad ofIntegricorpus reticulatus(Mtchedlishvili) Stanley from the Maastrichtian of North Dakota, U.S.A.

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Abstract
Morphological study of Aquilapolles fossil pollen, long conducted at the light microscopic level, is significantly enhanced by the greater depth of field and magnification obtainable with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The use of SEM‐generated stereo pairs provides a three‐dimensional image revealing spatial relationships of body form, sculpture and aperture arrangement. A tetrad consisting of individual grains referrable to Integricorpus reticulatus (Mtchedlishvili) Stanley, from the Hell Creek Formation (Maastrichtian) of North Dakota, is examined using stereo pairs and standard SEM imaging. This marks, as far as we know, the first SEM examination of an isopolar triprojectate tetrad. Comparison with previously published heteropolar spinulose Aquilapollenites tetrads of possible proteacean affinity provides additional clues to the polyphyletic nature of the Aquilapolles group.