Megaspores attributable to Ghoshispora in Late Cretaceous deposits of the Songliao Basin, north-east China: taxonomic clarification and distribution

• The occurrence of Cretaceous megaspore Ghoshispora in the Songliao Basin is discussed.
• All species of the genus are reviewed, compared and taxonomically clarified.
• Two new species are described and one placed in a previously published species.
• Two other forms are compared with published species, six identified in open nomenclature.
• Their palaeoenvironmental significance and stratigraphic distribution are considered.

The composite SK-1 borehole drilled in the Songliao Basin, north-east China penetrated non-marine rocks of Late Cretaceous age, some of which yielded assemblages of Ghoshispora. Species of this megaspore genus have palaeoenvironmental and potentially also biostratigraphic significance. Their value as determinants of age is, however, currently limited because many are difficult if not impossible to differentiate as our appraisal of their morphological characters reveals. This review helped to put the specimens recovered from the SK-1 borehole into context and led to the identification of a few of the specimens as Ghoshispora kondinskayae (Srivastava et Binda) Srivastava, G. sp. cf. G. bella (Kondinskaya) subsp. deltoidea Kutluk et al., and G. sp. cf. G. rara (Kondinskaya) Srivastava. Several revealed characters under the scanning electron microscope that differ from those of previously published species: two of these are described as new, namely Ghoshispora zhaoi sp. nov. and G. bulbosa sp. nov. Owing to a lack of sufficient specimens six other morphotypes have had to be identified in open nomenclature as G. sp. A–F. It is likely that the parent plants of all of the species grew in and/or close to standing water. The comparatively large number of very small specimens in association with, and having some of the characters of, the larger representatives of G. zhaoi suggests that a few might be the microspores of this species rather than incompletely developed megaspores.