Volume 35 1999

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Recognition of neotype specimens for species described from the Arnot Pipe, Banke, Namaqualand, South Africa
(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1999) de Villiers, S E
Important palynological studies were completed by Scholtz (1985) on material from the Arnot Pipe on the farm Banke in Namaqualand, Northern Cape Province. The results comprised a rare record of early Tertiary vegetation in southern Africa. The body of Scholtz’s research consisted of systematic, descriptive palynology including the description of one new genus and fifteen new species. Ongoing research into South Africa’s Tertiary palynology requires that the type specimens from Arnot be used for comparative purposes. However, the microscope slides on which they were founded were not available for examination. Another set of slides, representing two of the seven samples taken at Arnot, was used to search for neotype specimens to replace the missing holotypes. Specimens representing all fifteen new species were found, but were often badly preserved, obscured by debris or trapped between air bubbles as the condition of the decade-old microscope slides had deteriorated. Only specimens in good condition were selected as neotypes, and comprehensively illustrated. Four of Scholtz’s new species were transferred to alternative, more applicable, genera.