Canrightiopsis,a new Early Cretaceous fossil with Clavatipollenites-type pollen bridge the gap between extinct Canrightia and extant Chloranthaceae

Canrightiopsis with three species (C. intermedia, C. crassitesta, C. dinisii) is described from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal based on small, one-seeded berries. The fruits are derived from bisexual flowers with three stamens borne on one side of the ovary. There are no traces of a perianth. Pollen is of the Clavatipollenites-type, monocolpate, semitectate, reticulate-columellate with heterobrochate reticulum and muri with beaded supratectal ornamentation. The ovary is unilocular with a single pendant, orthotropous and bitegmic ovule. The seed is endotestal. The endotesta consists of one layer of palisade-shaped crystal cells with fibrous infillings. The fruit wall has resin bodies or cavities from presumed ethereal oil cells sometimes seen as stomata-like structures on the fruit surface. A phylogenetic analysis resolves Canrightiopsis as a close relative of extant Chloranthaceae, particularly close to extant Chloranthus and Sarcandra. All three taxa share the one-sided position of the stamens on the ovary. An evolutionary sequence from fossil Canrightia to fossil Canrightiopsis and extant Chloranthus and Sarcandra is suggested by loss of perianth, reduction in number of ovules and stamens and displacement of stamens to one side of the ovary. Canrightiopsis also shares several critical features with extant Ascarina including monoaperturate pollen and beaded supratectal ornamentation of the pollen wall.