Monotoca-Type (Epacridaceae) Pollen in the Late Tertiary of Southern Australia

Abstract

The shrub Monotoca is widespread in eucalypt forests. Monotoca-type pollen is distinctive with a tetrad of one large functional cell and three small aborted cells. Other variations on the tetrad, with equal sized cells, the normal pollen type for the family, cannot be confused with Monotoca. Fossil Monotoca pollen first appears in the Mid Miocene, when the climate was becoming drier, rainforest was contracting and sclerophyll forests were expanding.