The main features of microsporogenesis, or male meiosis (cytokinesis, intersporal wall formation, and tetrad form), are described in 24 species of palms (Arecaceae). The species examined belong to two of the five subfamilies recognized in the latest classification of the family. To reconstruct the evolution of microsporogenesis features within the palms, recently published phylogenies of the family are used as a historical framework. Although the ancestral sequence of microsporogenesis in palms could not be inferred without ambiguities, our results show that the co‐occurrence of both simultaneous and successive cytokinesis within the same species has evolved independently several times. Tetrad forms and the intersporal wall formation are highly labile features.