Tiny fossils set record for oldest flowerlike pollen
Find might have come from ancient relative of today’s flowering plants
By Susan Milius
Nubbly specks 243 million years old could be the oldest fossils of pollen grains yet found from close ancestors of today’s flowering plants.
The somewhat squashed spheres come from deposits dating from 3 million to 5 million years earlier than the previous record holders, says Peter Hochuli of the University of Zurich. The newly described fossils show some features of pollen grains more than 100 million years younger that are widely accepted as signs of flowering plants, or angiosperms, Hochuli says.