Quadripollis krempii was described by Drugg 1967 from Maastrichtian deposits in California and has been reported from the Albian to Paleocene of the western United States and Canada. A revised description is supported by illustrations of specimens found in outcrops of the Straight Cliffs Formation in southern Utah. Q. krempii is unique among fossil tetrads and the tetrahedral tetrad is apparently inaperturate. We observe that the thinning and occasional rupturing of the exine observed by Drugg is a vestigial aperture, herein described as a tenuitas. Q. krempii has been thought to be either gymnospermous or angiospermous. No modern gymnosperms produce pollen in obligate tetrads but at least 23 angiosperm families do. Our review revealed possible families with some similarities to Q. krempii, mainly members of the Juncaceae which exhibit an ulcerated or thinned exine in the distal areas of the monads. A relationship to bryophytes cannot be ruled out.

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