''Droserapites'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

s of somewhat uncertain droseracean affinity. It is a

form taxon Form classification is the classification of organisms based on their morphology (biology), morphology, which does not necessarily reflect their biological relationships. Form classification, generally restricted to palaeontology, reflects uncer ...

known only from fossil

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

. ''Droserapites'' pollen grains are united in tetrads (groups of four). Individual grains are inaperturate. The exine is mixed with dense, superposed

clavate This glossary of entomology describes terms used in the formal study of insect species by entomology, entomologists. A–C A synthetic chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticide, toxic to vertebr ...

and baculate processes, whereas the sexine is

reticulate Reticulation is a net-like pattern, arrangement, or structure. Reticulation or Reticulated may refer to: * Reticulation (single-access key), a structure of an identification tree, where there are several possible routes to a correct identificati ...

. Pollen of ''D. clavatus'' has been found in the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

Peliao Sandstone of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. It generally matches that of

extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to: * Extant hereditary titles * Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English * Exta ...

Drosera ''Drosera'', which is commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genus, genera of carnivorous plants, with at least 194 species. 2 volumes. These members of the family Droseraceae lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucil ...

'' in morphology.Song, Z.-C., W.-M. Wang & F. Huang 2004. Fossil pollen records of extant angiosperms in China. ''The Botanical Review'' 70(4): 425–458. In his formal description of the genus, Tseng-Chieng Huang suggested that ''Droserapites'' may be related to '' Droseridites'' and '' Quadrisperites''. The tetrads of ''D. clavatus'' are tetrahedral and 34–40 μm in diameter. Individual grains are subspheroidal and measure 18–25 μm in width. They have a roughly circular amb that is abruptly acute at the distal pole. The exine is 0.5–1 μm thick, with 2–3 μm long clavae or bacula.

References

Droseraceae Extinct carnivorous plants Prehistoric angiosperm genera Miocene plants Fossil taxa described in 1978 {{droseraceae-stub