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Palynotaxonomy of the genus Gladiopappus (Dicomeae, Asteraceae) with special emphasis on the exine ultrastructure and mesoapertures

Coutinho, António Pereira; Sá da Bandeira, Diana; Currais, Lara M.; Soukiazes, E.; Ortiz Núñez, Santiago

Abstract

The pollen morphology of Gladiopappus vernonioides was studied with transmission (TEM) and scanning (SEM) electron microscopy and with light microscopy (LM). An Anthemoid pattern of exine ultrastructure was found. The pollen morphology of Gladiopappus supports the inclusion of this genus in the tribe Dicomeae and subtribe Dicominae but not in the Mutisieae s.str. The apertural system of G. vernonioides includes a mesoaperture that intersects the foot layer and the upper layer of the endexine, a condition already pointed out for several tribes of Asteroideae (Helenieae, Gnaphaliinae, Heliantheae, Inuleae, Senecioneae) and Carduoideae (Cardueae, Dicomeae). It is suggested that the existence of an intermediate aperture could characterize the apertural system of the Asteraceae as a synapomorphy

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© 2018 Naturalis Biodiversity Center You are free to share - to copy, distribute and transmit the work, under the following conditions: Attribution: Youmustattributetheworkinthemannerspecifiedbytheauthororlicensor(butnotinanywaythatsuggeststhattheyendorseyouoryouruseofthework). Non-commercial: Youmaynotusethisworkforcommercialpurposes. Noderivativeworks: Youmaynotalter,transform,orbuilduponthiswork. Foranyreuseordistribution,youmustmakecleartoothersthelicensetermsofthiswork,whichcanbefoundathttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/legalcode.Anyoftheaboveconditionscanbe waivedifyougetpermissionfromthecopyrightholder.Nothinginthislicenseimpairsorrestrictstheauthor’smoralrights. Blumea63,2018:102–108 ISSN(Online)2212-1676 www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nhn/blumea https://doi.org/10.3767/blumea.2018.63.02.02 RESEARCH ARTICLE INTRODUCTION In1947,whentravellinginthesouthofMadagascar,theFrench botanist Jean-Henri Humbert discovered a new endemic species and genus of AsteraceaeatthecapeSainteMarie,onthe edgeofalimestoneplateau.Inthefollowingyearhedescribed Gladiopappus anditsonlyspecies(G. vernonioidesHumb.), and included it in the Mutisieae s.lat. (Humbert1948).Thistribe, in its classic concept, was described, for the first time, by Cassini (1817)andlateracceptedbythegeneralityofbotanists(e.g., Bentham1873,Hoffmann1894).Oneofthemostimportant wasCabrera(1951,1965,1971,1977),whopublishedseveral of the most relevant works related to the tribe taxonomy. The Mutisieae s.lat. werelaterconsideredbymanyauthors(e.g., Bremer1987,Panero&Funk2002,Katinasetal.2009,Tiangangetal.2011)asanartificialgroupwhichtheydividedin severaltribes.OneofthesetaxawastheDicomeae, a small tribethatPanero&Funk(2002)proposedforthefirsttime.Althoughseveralbotanists(e.g.,Hind2007)followedHumbert’s (1948)taxonomictreatmentandconsideredGladiopappus as belonging to the Mutisieae,Ortizetal.(2009)includedit in the Dicomeae. OtherauthorsacceptedtheinclusionofGladiopappus in this tribe (e.g.,Ortizetal.2013),sometimesstressing that they did so onaprovisionalbasis(e.g.,TreeofLifeWeb Project2009).Therefore,thetribalpositionofthegenusisstill controversial. Manyauthorshavestudiedthepollenmorphologyofthe Mutisieaes.lat.withlightmicroscopy(LM)(e.g.,Wodehouse 1929a,b,Stix1960,Dimon1971,Parra&Marticorena1972, Pastana1989)orscanningelectronmicroscopy(SEM)(with orwithoutLM,asdidHansen1990,Linetal.2005,Zhaoet al.2006,Tellería&Katinas2004,2009andWortleyetal. 2012).Skvarla&Turner(1966),Southworth(1966)andTellería&Katinas(2009)investigated,withtransmissionelectron microscopy(TEM),theexineultrastructureof,respectively Mutisia campanulata, Gerbera jamesonii and Mutisia spinosa, three taxa that belong to the Mutisieae s.str. Although Skvarla etal.(1977)employedTEMtostudytheexineultrastructure of four genera belonging to the Mutisieaes.lat.(Dasyphyllum, Doniophyton, Glossarion and Schlechtendalia),furtherstudies(e.g.,Katinasetal.2009)haveshownthatnoneofthese taxacorrespondtothemodernconceptofthetribe.Infact, Dasyphyllum, Doniophyton and Schlechtendalia belong to the Barnadesieae (Barnadesioideae),andevenGlossarion, a genusthatCabrera(1977)andKatinasetal.(2008)includedin the Mutisiinae was not considered as belonging to the modern Mutisieae(Katinasetal.2009). Fortheirpart,Ortiz&Pereira Coutinho(2001)andPereiraCoutinhoetal.(2012)studied,with LM,SEM,and,intwocases(Erythrocephalum and Pleiotaxis), alsowithTEM,thepalynologyofsevengeneraofDicomeae (Cloiselia, Dicoma, Dicomopsis, Erythrocephalum, Macledium, Pasaccardoa and Pleiotaxis). Zhaoetal.(2006)publishedtheonlyobservationsonthepollen morphology of G. vernonioides.TheyemployedLMand SEM–butnotTEM–tostudytheexineofG. vernoni oides, basing their descriptions on the pollen grains of a single specimen(Humbert 20326,isotype)intheKewHerbarium. Onlyfivemeasurementsoftheexinecharactersweretaken, andthestudylackedastatisticalanalysisofthedata.Forthese reasons,weconsiderZhaoetal.’s(2006)pollendescription of G. vernonioidesasincomplete.Inaddition,consideringthe uncertainties in the taxonomic placement of the taxon and the well-known importance of pollen morphology for the taxonomy and ecology of the Asteraceae(e.g.,Wodehouse1935,Wagenitz1976,Skvarlaetal.1977,Bolick1978,Blackmore1982, Wangetal.2009,Blackmoreetal.2010,Wortleyetal.2012, Telleríaetal.2013),wehavedecidedtostudytheexineofthat raregenusingreaterdetail(TEM,SEMandLM). Palynotaxonomy of the genus Gladiopappus (Dicomeae, Asteraceae) with special emphasis on the exine ultrastructure and mesoapertures A.PereiraCoutinho1,D.SádaBandeira2,L.Currais1,E.Soukiazes2,S.Ortiz3 1 CentreforFunctionalEcology(CFE),DepartmentofLifeSciences,Faculty ofSciencesandTechnology,UniversityofCoimbra,CalçadaMartimde Freitass/n,3000-456Coimbra,Portugal;  correspondingauthore-mail:[email protected]. 2DepartmentofLifeSciences,FacultyofSciencesandTechnology,UniversityofCoimbra,Coimbra,Portugal. 3FacultyofPharmacy,UniversityofSantiagodeCompostela,PrazaSeminariodeEstudosGalegos,s/n,Campussur,15782SantiagodeCompostela,Galicia,Spain. Key words Dicomeae exine LM Mutisieae pollen SEM TEM AbstractThepollenmorphologyofGladiopappus vernonioides wasstudiedwithtransmission(TEM)andscanning(SEM)electronmicroscopyandwithlightmicroscopy(LM).AnAnthemoidpatternofexineultrastructurewas found.ThepollenmorphologyofGladiopappus supports the inclusion of this genus in the tribe Dicomeae and subtribe Dicominae but not in the Mutisieae s.str. TheaperturalsystemofG. vernonioides includes a mesoaperture that intersects the foot layer and the upper layer of the endexine, a condition already pointed out for several tribes of Asteroideae (Helenieae, Gnaphaliinae, Heliantheae, Inuleae, Senecioneae)andCarduoideae (Cardueae, Dicomeae).Itissuggestedthattheexistenceofanintermediateaperturecouldcharacterizetheaperturalsystem of the Asteraceaeasasynapomorphy. Published on13July2018 103 A.PereiraCoutinhoetal.:PalynotaxonomyofGladiopappus A general point to be also considered is the question of the presenceofmesoapertures,i.e.,‘themiddlepartofacompound aperture in which there is also an ectoaperture and an endoaperture’(Puntetal.2007).Thisisarareconditioninthe angiosperms.ItoccursinthePolygonaceae (Puntetal.2007), some Boraginaceae (Saad-Limametal.2002)andthegreat majorityoftheAsteraceae.Aconsiderablenumberofauthors discussed the questions of the presence of mesoapertures (seeTable1)andwhichexinelayersitinvolved(seeTable2) in the apertural system of the Asteraceae.Itisworthnoting that the structure was recorded in all the main subfamilies (Helianthoideae, Carduoideae, Cichorioideae, Mutisioideae). Ourmainobjectivesweretocharacterizethepollenmorphology of Gladiopappusandtoclarifyitstribalposition.Wealsointended to provide some data about the existence and structural morphology of a mesoaperture in its pollen apertural system and to help to clarify its taxonomic significance for the Asteraceae. MATERIALS AND METHODS Specimens seen Gladiopappus vernonioidesHumb. Madagascar,CapSainteMarie,11July1948,Jean de Dieu 1428-RN(P);FalaiseterminaleduCapSainteMarie,23Sept. 1958,M.G. Cours s.n. (P). General treatment ThepollengrainsoftwospecimensbelongingtotheHerbarium oftheMuséumNationald’HistoireNaturelle,Paris(seeabove) werecollectedandacetolyzedaccordingtoErdtman(1960). Theterminologyforexinedescriptionsfollowed,ingeneral, Puntetal.(2007)and,forsomedetailsoftheexinestructure (columellaenomenclature),Blackmoreetal.(2009). LM Thepollenmaterialwasincludedinsiliconeoil(Andersen 1960)andthenobservedandphotographedwithaMoticBA 310lightmicroscopeequippedwithadigitalcamera.Thirty measurements of the following characters were taken: polar axis(P),equatorialdiameter(E),exinethicknessinthepolar areas, ectoaperture length, mesoaperture length and width, Subfamilies Mesoapertures Authors Barnadesioideae Notreferred Urtubey&Tellería(1998),Stuessyetal.(2009) Famatinanthoideae Yes Freireetal.(2014) Mutisioideae Yes Tellería&Katinas(2009),Freireetal.(2014) Stifftioideae Yes Tellería&Katinas(2004) Wunderlichioideae Notreferred Zhaoetal.(2006),Tellería(2007) Gochnatioideae Yes Telleríaetal.(2013) Hecastocleidoideae No Tellería&Katinas(2005) Carduoideae Yes Leonardisetal.(1983),Tormo-Molina&Ubera-Jiménez(1990,1995),   Duistermaat(1996),Wortleyetal.(2008),PereiraCoutinhoetal.(2012) Pertyoideae Notreferred Tellería&Katinas(2005),Katinasetal.(2008) Gymnarrhenoideae Notreferred Zhaoetal.(2006) Cichorioideae Yes ElGhazaly(1980),Blackmore(1982),Wangetal.(2009) Corymbioideae Notreferred Wortleyetal.(2007) Asteroideae Yes Dimon(1971),PereiraCoutinho(2002),PereiraCoutinho&Paiva(2003),   Jaramillo&Trigo(2006),PereiraCoutinho&Dinis(2007,2009),Osman(2011),   Montes&Murray(2014),PereiraCoutinhoetal.(2014,2016) Table 1 PalynologicalstudiesonthesubfamiliesoftheAsteraceaeandthepresenceofmesoapertures. Subfamily Tribe Exinelayers Microscopies Authors Mutisioideae Mutisieae Innerlayerofthesexine+outerlayerofthenexine LM,SEM Tellería&Katinas(2009) Carduoideae Athroismeae Footlayer+outerlayeroftheendexine TEM PereiraCoutinhoetal.(2012) Cynareae Footlayer+outerlayeroftheendexine SEM,TEM Tormo-Molina&Ubera-Jiménez(1990,1995) Tectum LM Leonardisetal.(1983) Cichorioideae Arctoteae Footlayer LM Dimon(1971) Cichorieae Outerlayeroftheendexine LM,SEM ElGhazaly(1980) Footlayer SEM,TEM Blackmore(1982) Vernonieae Footlayer LM Dimon(1971) Asteroideae Anthemideae Footlayer LM Dimon(1971) Gnaphalieae Footlayer LM Dimon(1971) Footlayer+outerlayeroftheendexine TEM PereiraCoutinho&Dinis(2009) Helenieae Footlayer+outerlayeroftheendexine TEM PereiraCoutinho(2002) Heliantheae Footlayer LM Dimon(1971)  Footlayer+outerlayeroftheendexine TEM PereiraCoutinho(2002),PereiraCoutinhoetal.(2016) Inuleae Footlayer LM Dimon(1971)  Footlayer+outerlayeroftheendexine TEM PereiraCoutinho&Dinis(2007) Eupatorieae Footlayer LM Dimon(1971) Millerieae Footlayer+outerlayeroftheendexine TEM PereiraCoutinho(2002),PereiraCoutinho&Paiva(2003) Senecioneae Footlayer+outerlayeroftheendexine TEM Montes&Murray(2014) Table 2 Exinelayersinvolvedinthemesoapertures. 104 Blumea–Volume63/2,2018 endoaperturewidth,spineslengthandbasalwidth.Theratios P/Eandspinelength/basalwidthwerethencalculated. SEM After dehydration in an increasing ethanol gradient, the pollen grains were mounted on aluminium stubs, covered with goldpalladiumwithanionsputtercoaterJEOLJFC-1100(1200V, 6mA,10minutes)andobservedwithaHitachiSU-70scanning electronmicroscopeoperatingat4kV.Twentymeasurements of the diameter of the spine and inter-spines perforations were taken. TEM Thepollengrainswerefixedwithosmiumtetroxide2%in 0.1Msodiumcacodylatebuffer(pH7.2,24h),dehydratedin anincreasingethanolgradient(70–100%)andembeddedin Spurr’sresin.Ultra-thinsectionsweremadewithaLeicaEM UC6EMFC6ultramicrotomefittedwithadiamondknife,and contrastedwithuranylacetateandleadcitrate.Thentheywere observedwithaFEI-TecnaiG2SpiritBiotwintransmission electronmicroscopeoperatingat100kV.Twentymeasurements of the following characters were taken: tectum, internal tecta,footlayerandendexinethickness(thesetwocharacters innon-aperturalareas);inter-spinesmiddleandoutercolumellaewidth. Statistics Themaximumandminimumvalues,arithmeticmeanand standarddeviationarereportedforallobservedmeasures. RESULTS Pollen grains description Polleninmonads,isopolar(Fig.1a,b),withradiatesymmetry, 3-zono-colporate,ellipticinmeridianopticalsection(Fig.1a, b),subcircularinequatorialopticalsection,oblate-spheroidal tosubprolate,P/E=0.96–1.31(1.10±0.09).P=32.50– 49.20(40.70±4.08)μm,E=32.50–40.80(37.00±1.97) μm.Ectoapertures:colpi,acuteattheends(Fig.1c,d,2a), 23.00–28.00(25.20±2.16))μmlong;mesoapertureslalongate,elliptic(Fig.1c,d),length=4.50–12.40(8.60±2.74)μm, width=6.80–18.60(9.73±3.02)μm;endoapertureslalongate, constrictedatthecentre,moreorlessacuteattheends(Fig. 1c,d),width=13.30–20.00(16.20±1.81)μm;costaepresent. ExinewithanAnthemoidpattern,i.e.,acaveate(Fig.1a,b,2c, e,3a–f),withoutinternalforamina(Fig.3a–f),withalarge series of supporting columellae bearing shorter levels of outer columellaethatalternatewithinternaltecta;exine5.00–9.20 (7.25±1.20)μmthickatthepoles;tectumperforate(Fig. 2a–e,3a–f),0.16–0.27(0.21±0.03)μmthick;outerinternal tectum0.08–0.20(0.14±0.03)μmthick,perforate(Fig.3c–f); innerinternaltectum0.29–1.00(0.70±0.19)μmthick,withan interlacedmorphology(Fig.2c–e,3a–f);inter-spinessupporting columellae longer and thicker than the inter-spines middle andouterlayerscolumellae(Fig.3a–f),frequentlydistally ramified(Fig.2c–e,3b–e);inter-spinesmiddlelayercolumellae0.14–0.29(0.23±0.05)μmthick,inter-spinesouterlayer columellae0.07–0.23(0.13±0.05)μmthick;footlayerthicker thantheendexine(Fig.2c,3a–f)exceptattheaperturalareas (Fig.3a,b).Sculptureechinate,spinesacutetoobtuse(Fig.1a, b,2a–e),2.10–4.20(3.10±0.52)μmlong,4.20–6.70(5.36± 0.68)μmwideatthebase,spinelength/basalwidth=0.42– 0.71(0.58±0.08),spinessupportingcolumellaelongerthan Fig. 1LMmicrographs.a,b.Obliqueviewofameridionalopticalsection;c,d.meridionalsuperficialviewofanaperture.—ea–endoaperture;ec–ectoaperture;ma–mesoaperture;ne–nexine;sc–supportingcolumellae;se–sexine;sp–spines.—Scalebars:10µm. c b d a ne se sp sc ec ec ea ea ma ma 105 A.PereiraCoutinhoetal.:PalynotaxonomyofGladiopappus Fig. 2SEMmicrographs.a.Meridionalview,showinganaperture;b.detailofthesameview;c–e.detailsoffracturedexines.—ea–endoaperture;ec –ectoaperture;en–endexine;fl–footlayer;iit–innerinternaltectum;ma–mesoaperture;oc–outercolumellae;sc–supportingcolumellae;spf-spine perforations.—Scalebars:5µm. theinter-spinessupportingcolumellae(Fig.3b–d,f),reaching 1/3–1/2ofthespinelength(Fig.3b–d,f);perforationsreaching 1/3–1/2ofthespinelength(Fig.2a–e),increasingindimensionstotheapex(Fig.2a–e),diameter=0.09–0.57(0.29± 0.14)μm;inter-spinessculpturescabrate-perforate(Fig.2a, b,d,e),perforationsdiameter=0.05–0.19(0.11±0.04)μm. DISCUSSION Palynotaxonomy Ourresultsagree,ingeneral,withZhaoetal.(2006).Nevertheless,thevaluesofP/Ewefoundindicatethattheshapeof the pollen grains of Gladiopappus is more variable than they reported.They are oblate-spheroidal to prolate, and not simply prolateasZhaoetal.(2006)indicated.Theseauthorspostulated,butcouldnotprove,theexistenceof‘possiblymorethan onecolumellaelayeraboveproximal(basal)columellae’.The useofTEMallowedustosecurelyobservetwolevelsofcolumellaeandtwointernaltectaabovethesupportingcolumellae. ItmustbestressedthatSkvarlaetal.(1977)suspectedthat the quantification of columellae levels and internal tecta could beusefulfromataxonomicperspective. ThepollensculptureoftheMutisieaes.str.isgenerallymicroechinateormicrogranulate(Katinasetal.2009),macrogranulate(Linetal.2005),or,morerarely(asinsomespeciesof Mutisia),microechinate-rugulateorrugulate(Tellería&Katinas 2009).Parra&Marticorena(1972)pointedoutheightsof 0.5–1.5(1.8)μmfortheexineof61taxaofthefivegenera (Brachyclados, Chaetanthera, Chaptalia, Mutisia, Trichocline)of Mutisieae s.str.theystudied.Conversely,theDicomeae present a clearly echinate sculpture, with a spine average length of about3μmandreachingamaximumof8μm(Ortiz&Pereira Coutinho2001,Zhaoetal.2006,PereiraCoutinhoetal.2012). ThisisalsoafeatureofthepollengrainsofGladio pappus (see Results),thetypeofsculptureandthespinesizeapproaching this taxon to the Dicomeae, but not to the Mutisieae s.str. Another pollen feature that, as a trend, separates Gladio pappus from the Mutisieae s.str. istheratioE/exinethickness,which Bolick(1991)describedasusefulforthetaxonomyandphyloc b d a e ec ec ea ma oc sc sc sc iit fl en spf 106 Blumea–Volume63/2,2018 geny of the Asteraceae.Infact,theaverageratioforG. vernonioides is5.1,avaluethatissomewhatlowerthantheratio foundbyPereiraCoutinhoetal.(2012)fortheDicomeae(6.1), but, even so, closer to it than to the average values of all the genera of Mutisieae s.str. that we have calculated based on otherauthors’data(seeTable3).Itcanbenotedthateven Bolick’s(1991)averagevalue(6.6)ofthementionedratiofor the Mutisieaes.lat.(whichcomprisedseveraltaxathatarecurrentlyincludedinothertribes)isfarfromthatofG. vernonioides. Also, the mesoapertures involve different exine layers in the Dicomeae and Mutisieae s.str.(seeTable2andthesubsection MesoaperturesoftheDiscussion). Skvarlaetal.(1977)describedtheAnthemoidpatternofultrastructure for the Anthemideae and Barnadesieae.Itwasalso reported for most of the Cardueae (Skvarlaetal.1977,TormoMolina&Ubera-Jiménez1995),theMutisieae(Tellería&Katinas2009)andtheDicomeae (Ortiz&PereiraCoutinho2001, PereiraCoutinhoetal.2011).Thispatternalsocharacterizes the exine of Gladiopappus, and it is relevant to compare its detailswiththetwosubtypesthatPereiraCoutinhoetal.(2011) reported for the Dicomeae. Theydescribedtheexistenceof ‘supportingcolumellaethick,denselydistributedandmoreor lessstraight’fortheDicominae and‘atleastsomeofthesupGenera E/exinethickness Authors  (average) Brachyclados 7.7 Tellería&Katinas(2004) Chaetanthera 7.6 Tellería&Katinas(2004) Chaptalia 6.8 Parra&Marticorena(1972) Mutisia 7.5 Tellería&Katinas(2009) Pachylaena 6.3 Parra&Marticorena(1972) Trichocline 6.6 Parra&Marticorena(1972) Table 3 AverageratioE/exinethicknessofthegeneraofMutisieaes.str. Fig. 3TEMmicrographs.a.Detailofanaperture;b.generalequatorialsection;c–f.detailsofexinesections.—ea–endoaperture;ec–ectoaperture; en–endexine;fl–footlayer;iit–innerinternaltectum;isp–inter-spineperforations;ma–mesoaperture;oc–outercolumellae;oit–outerinternaltectum; mc–middlecolumellae;sc–supportingcolumellae;spf–spineperforations;te–tectum.—Scalebars:2µm. c b d a ef ec en ma ec en ea ma fl fl mc mc te te te spf spf iit isp iit oit oit oc oc sc 107 A.PereiraCoutinhoetal.:PalynotaxonomyofGladiopappus porting columellae thin, more or less loosely distributed and moreorlesscurved’forthePleiotaxinae. Clearly, the exine of Gladiopappus belongs to the first subpattern, which supports the inclusion of this genus in the subtribe Dicominae. Mesoapertures OurresultsagreewiththosedescribedbyTormo-Molina& Ubera-Jiménez(1990,1995)andPereiraCoutinhoetal. (2012)fortheCarduoideaeandbyPereiraCoutinho(2002), PereiraCoutinho&Paiva(2003),PereiraCoutinho&Dinis (2007,2009),PereiraCoutinhoetal.(2011,2016)andMontes &Murray(2014)fortheAsteroideae.Nevertheless,theyonly partiallyagreewiththedatareportedbyElGhazaly(1980)and Blackmore(1982)fortheCichorioideae.Infact,theseauthors considered the mesoaperture as involving, respectively, the outer layer of the endexine and the foot layer, but all our observations indicate that it intersects the foot layer and the upper layeroftheendexine.Tellería&Katinas(2009)describedthe mesoaperture of Mutisia (Mutisioideae) asinvolving‘theinner layerofthesexineandtheouterlayerofthenexine’.Although theyemployedLM,SEMandTEM,itisnotclearwhichofthese techniquestheyspecificallyusedtoobservethesestructures. BearinginmindTellería&Katinas’(2009)description,wethink thattheydidnotobservethedetailsoftheapertureswithTEM. Thisimpliesthat,inMutisia, the columellae, the foot layer and the distal part of the endexine or the columellae and the foot layer are involved in the mesoaperture, in any case a different situation from that we observed in Gladiopappus andothertaxa. In the case of Gladiopappus it was relatively easy to observe themesoapertureslimitswithLMandSEM,butthisisnot always the case because, sometimes, they are either diffuse (Tellería&Katinas2004)ormoreorlesscoveredbythoseof theendoapertures(Dimon1971,Tellería&Katinas2004)or ectoapertures(PereiraCoutinho&Dinis2007,2009).Inthe lastcase,theinternalview,withSEM,offracturedexines,can revealthepresenceofthemesoapertures(PereiraCoutinho& Dinis2007),andwesuspectthat,insomecases,theauthors didnotobservethembecausetheydidnotemployTEMor SEMtostudytheexineultrastructureand/ortheendexine infracturedpollengrains.Inconclusion:ourdataandother authors’(seeTable2)revealthatthepresenceofmesoaperturescharacterizesnotonlyallthemostimportantsubfamilies of the Asteraceae(Asteroideae, Cichorioideae, Carduoideae, Mutisioideae)butalsomanyofthesmallerones(Famatinanthoideae, Stifftioideae, Gochnatioideae),althoughsomevariation can occur in the exine layers that are intersected by these pollenstructures.Itisourconvictionthat,atleastasatrend, theexistenceofamesoaperturecharacterizestheapertural system of the Asteraceae as a synapomorphy, and that future carefulexaminationswithTEMandSEMwillrevealitspresence in more subfamilies of Asteraceae. 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