Lovellea wintonensis gen. et sp. nov.- Early Cretaceous (late Albian), anatomically preserved, angiospermous flowers and fruits from the Winton Formation, western Queensland, Australia

A new anatomically preserved, permineralised fossil flower/fruit taxon, Lovellea wintonensis gen. et sp. nov., is described from upper Albian sediments of the Winton Formation, western Queensland. The flower/fruit has a cup-shaped receptacle with perianth and androecium borne on the rim of the cup and multiple carpels with inferior ovaries embedded in the receptacle wall, above which the styles are free. The long, tapering styles and spirally thickened, unicellular hairs that arise from the inner epidermis of the receptacle are directed towards the mouth of the cup ringed by stamens. The androecium comprises two whorls or series of stalked stamens with bisporangiate, valvate, introrse anthers; pollen is disulcate with a retitectate exine. Each carpel has a dorsal slit and one laterally attached seed with a bitegmic seed coat; the parenchymatous carpel wall is differentiated into exocarp, mesocarp and endocarp. The seed coat consists of a 2-layered testa, the inner layer composed of transfer cells with inclusions of tetragonal-shaped crystals, and a cuticular tegmen. The organisation and morphology of floral parts of the fossils is consistent with a relationship with the Laurales. Although familial relationships are uncertain, the character mosaic of the fossil flowers/fruits is more similar to Gomortega (Gomortegaceae) and, to a lesser extent, Tambourissa (Monimiaceae s.str.) than to other members of the order. The late Albian occurrence of Lovellea wintonensis predates oldest reported fossils of the Gomortegaceae. Cladistic analysis based on morphology indicates Lovellea as the sister group of all remaining Laurales excluding Calycanthaceae and Idiospermum.