Taxa are arranged in an artificial morphographic system of suprageneric categories (turmae) devised originally by Potonié (1956-1970) and others, as adopted by Burger (1994). The following key summarises the main morphological characteristics of the classification. Only those turmae used in the New Zealand catalogue are listed. Spores and pollen united into multiple units (dyads, tetrads, polyads, etc.) are treated according to the morphology of a single component grain. Freshwater algae are listed at the end.
| SPORES (monolete, trilete or hilate) | Anteturma SPORITES |
| . . Monolete | Turma MONOLETES |
| . . . . spore wall without separated layers (acavate) | Suprasubturma ACAVATOMONOLETES |
| . . . . . . spore wall not differentially thickened | Subturma AZONOMONOLETES |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture smooth | Infraturma LAEVIGATOMONOLETI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture apiculate | Infraturma APICULATIMONOLETI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture foveolate or reticulate | Infraturma MURORNATIMONOLETI |
| . . . . spore wall with at least two unconnected layers (cavate) | Suprasubturma PERINOMONOLETES |
| . . Trilete | Turma TRILETES |
| . . . . spore wall without separated layers (acavate) | Suprasubturma ACAVATITRILETES |
| . . . . . . spore wall not differentially thickened | Subturma AZONATI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture smooth | Infraturma LAEVIGATI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture apiculate | Infraturma APICULATI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture of elongated elements | Infraturma MURORNATI |
| . . . . . . . . . . sculpture foveolate or reticulate | Subinfraturma RETICULATI |
| . . . . . . . . . . sculpture of separate irregularly arranged rugulae | Subinfraturma RUGULATI |
| . . . . . . . . . . sculpture of parallel ridges | Subinfraturma STRIATITI |
| . . . . . . . . . . sculpture of concentric ridges | Subinfraturma ANNULATI |
| . . . . . . spore wall thickened in equatorial radial regions (angles) | Subturma AURICULATI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture smooth | Infraturma LAEVIGATI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture of elongated elements | Infraturma MURORNATI |
| . . . . . . spore wall thickened in each equatorial inter-radial region | Subturma TRICRASSATI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture smooth | Infraturma LAEVIGATI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture apiculate | Infraturma APICULATI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture of elongated elements | Infraturma MURORNATI |
| . . . . . . spore wall thickened around whole equator | Subturma CINGULATI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture smooth | Infraturma LAEVIGATI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture apiculate | Infraturma APICULATI |
| . . . . . . . . sculpture of elongated elements | Infraturma MURORNATI |
| . . . . spore wall with clearly separated layers (cavate) | Suprasubturma PERINOTRILETES |
| . . . . . . spore wall not differentially thickened | Subturma AZONOPEROTRILETES |
| . . . . . . spore wall thickened around whole equator | Subturma ZONOPEROTRILETES |
| . . Hilate | Turma HILATES |
| POLLEN (including, for convenience, alete spores) | Anteturma POLLENITES |
| . . Sacci present | Division SACCITES |
| . . . . a single encircling saccus | Subdivision MONOSACCITES |
| . . . . . . corpus without aperture | Infradivision INAPERTURATI |
| . . . . . . corpus with a monolete or trilete slit-like aperture | Infradivision MONOLETI-TRILETI |
| . . . . . . corpus with a elongate thinning or sulcus | Infradivision SULCATI |
| . . . . two sacci | Subdivision DISACCITES |
| . . . . . . corpus with a trilete slit-like aperture | Infradivision TRILETI |
| . . . . . . corpus with a elongate thinning or sulcus | Infradivision SULCATI |
| . . . . . . corpus with numerous sub-parallel ridges (taeniae) | Infradivision MURORNATI-COSTATI |
| . . . . three or more sacci | Subdivision POLYSACCITES |
| . . Sacci absent | |
| . . . . apertures absent | Turma ALETES-INAPERTURATES |
| . . . . . . pollen or spore wall without separated layers | Suprasubturma ACAVATALETES |
| . . . . . . . . wall not differentially thickened | Subturma AZONALETES |
| . . . . . . . . . . sculpture smooth | Infraturma LAEVIGATI |
| . . . . . . . . . . sculpture apiculate | Infraturma APICULATI |
| . . . . . . . . . . sculpture of elongated elements | Infraturma MURORNATI |
| . . . . numerous subparallel ridges and intervening thinner areas | Turma POLYPLICATES |
| . . . . apertures various (mostly angiosperm pollen) | |
| . . . . . . apertures elongate, without pores (colpi sensu lato) | |
| . . . . . . . . one simple colpus | Turma MONOSULCATES |
| . . . . . . . . one branched colpus | Turma TRICHOTOMOSULCITES |
| . . . . . . . . one equatorially-oriented encircling colpus | Turma ZONO-ANNULICOLPATES |
| . . . . . . . . two colpi | Turma DISULCITES-DICOLPATES |
| . . . . . . . . three colpi | Turma TRICOLPATES |
| . . . . . . . . four or more colpi meridionally-arranged | Turma STEPHANOCOLPATES |
| . . . . . . . . four or more colpi arranged in global network | Turma POLYCOLPATES |
| . . . . . . apertures combined colpi and pores | |
| . . . . . . . . apertures connected at poles | Turma SYNCOLPORATES |
| . . . . . . . . apertures not connected at poles | |
| . . . . . . . . . . three colpi, each with a single pore | Turma TRICOLPORATES |
| . . . . . . . . . . three colpi, each with more than one pore | Turma TRICOLPIPOLYPORATES |
| . . . . . . . . . . four or more colpi meridionally-arranged | Turma STEPHANOCOLPORATES |
| . . . . . . apertures equidimensional (pores) | |
| . . . . . . . . one pore | Turma MONOPORATES |
| . . . . . . . . two pores | Turma DIPORATES |
| . . . . . . . . three pores | Turma TRIPORATES |
| . . . . . . . . four or more pores equatorially-arranged | Turma STEPHANOPORATES |
| . . . . . . . . four or more pores globally arranged | Turma POLYPORATES |
| ALGAE |
Cite this publication as:
"J.I. Raine, D.C. Mildenhall, E.M. Kennedy (2011).
New Zealand fossil spores and pollen: an illustrated catalogue. 4th edition.
GNS Science miscellaneous series no. 4.
http://data.gns.cri.nz/sporepollen/index.htm".
© GNS Science, 2011
ISBN 978-0-478-19871-3
ISSN 1177-2441
(Available also in CD version from: Publications Officer, GNS Science, P.O. Box
30368 Lower Hutt, New Zealand)
Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz,
Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1999) should also be cited (see
References).