This CSI is a picture of a pollen grain from an extinct group
known as triprojectates. This particular beast, Triprojectus unicus, was
common about 65 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous, when the
dinosaurs still ruled the roost. The nasty-looking recurved spines may
have allowed the pollen grains to hitch rides on passing insects. Pollen
survives in the fossil record because their external walls were, and are,
composed of sporopollenin, a rugged organic polymer that can endure the
rigors of the environment and the process of fossilization. It is from
little gems like these that scientists learn about the flora -- and the
larger environment -- of the age of the dinosaurs.
Special thanks to Andrew MacRae of the University of Calgary who has a
nifty gallery of pollen from the past.
