Analyse de la repartition géographique des Malphigiaceae d’apres les caractêres du pollen et de la pollinisation

Abstract

ANALYSIS OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MALPHIGIACEAE USING POLLEN ANDPOLLINATION CHARACTERS

A comparative study o f pollen and pollination in the family Malphigiaceae shows that the genera o f the Old World are derived from those in South America. They have existed on the continents involved since the Cretaceous.

In South America there is coadaptation oetween the pollen characters and the pollinating insects present only on this continent and subsequently diversified after the enlargement o f the Atlantic in the Tertiary.

Pollen characters o f the Malphigiaceae show affinities with those o f other families o f the Polygalales. Palynologically, Malphigiaceae approaches Euphorbiaceae on the one hand, and Leguminosae and Rutales-Sapindales on the other.