The Carboniferous spore genus Vestispora: New palynological insights from Gondwana

Palynological studies from Europe and North America have repeatedly considered the Carboniferous miospore genus Vestispora a useful biostratigraphic indicator, resulting in a detailed review and discussion of its variable morphotypes. This was not the case in Gondwana, where Vestispora has rarely been reported. However, a few studies from India and South America used the absence of this taxon as an argument for a Permian age.

The present work introduces a well-preserved and diverse record of five species of Vestispora from the Pennsylvanian (Moscovian-Gzhelian) of the Dhiffah Formation, north Western Desert (NWD), Egypt. Moreover, a detailed review of previous records of Vestispora was introduced in a trial to understand its regional distribution in Gondwana. It turned out that Vestispora is restricted to the Tethyan realm or the vegetation belt stretching North of Gondwana. However, the genus seems to exhibit a wider stratigraphic range in the Tethyan realm of Gondwana than in the Euramerican Province, with the youngest occurrences up to the top of the Carboniferous.