![Sample our Earth Sciences journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5930/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Earth-Sciences.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Material from the lower Miocene Heath Formation in Perú was re-examined for fungal content. Ninety-four taxa were encountered during the preliminary survey of the slides. These taxa represent a vibrant community of parasites, saprophytes and mycorrhizae present in terrestrial regions adjacent to the Heath Formation depocentre. This paper provides an overview of the taxa encountered and resolves nomenclatural problems for seven taxa: Diporotheca doniana sp. nov., Diporotheca gorda sp. nov., Monoporisporites minionoides sp. nov., Parapotomyces maydiformis gen. et sp. nov., Pluricellaesporites woodianus sp. nov., Verrudisporonites elsikianus gen. et sp. nov. and Zopfiella neogenica sp. nov.
Acknowledgements
The author dedicates this work to the memory of Gordon Wood, who began this project many years earlier, and Bill Elsik, who started describing fungal palynomorphs from the Heath Formation with Gordon in the 1990s. Merrell Miller is gratefully acknowledged for his tireless efforts in finding Gordon's notes about the Heath Formation and the associated record of slide numbers. Many thanks go to Steve Manchester and Hongshan Wang of the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH), University of Florida, for locating the slides in the Don Engelhardt collection and approving an extended loan to the author. Recovery of this material would not have been possible without the efforts of David and Susan Jarzen, who brought the collections to FLMNH from Columbia, South Carolina, following Don's death. Sharon Brooke and Jonathan Eisenhour are thanked for their early work in obtaining high-resolution photomicrographs of select fungal palynomorphs. This manuscript was improved by the constructive comments of the reviewers, David Jarzen and Matthew Pound. Information from legacy AMOCO slides has been kindly approved by BP.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jennifer M. K. O'Keefe
JENNIFER M. K. O'KEEFE is a palynologist and organic petrographer in the department of Earth and Space Sciences at Morehead State University. Her interests lie in improving processing techniques, melissopalynology, fungal palynology and wetland ecology from the Cretaceous–Neogene.