Coryphoid palms from the K-Pg boundary of central India and their biogeographical implications: Evidence from megafossil remains

The earliest fossil evidence of spiny feather (pinnate-leaved) palms from the K-Pg of Gondwana

“…The Deccan Intertrappean (Maastrichtian-Danian) flora hosts one of the richest fossil plant assemblages in India and offers valuable insights for understanding the diversity, evolution, and palaeobiogeography of the Indian flora during the K-Pg transition when India was still a relatively isolated landmass (Kapgate, 2005;Chatterjee et al, 2013;Smith et al, 2015). It is interesting to note that palms have been recognized as an important component of this flora, represented by numerous permineralized stems of Palmoxylon (Prakash and Ambwani, 1980;Ambwani, 1984a, b;Manchester et al, 2016;Khan et al, 2019Khan et al, , 2020a, fruits (Prakash, 1960;Bande et al, 1982;Mehrotra, 1987;Bonde, 1990;Manchester et al, 2016;Matsunaga et al, 2019) as well as several species of leaf remains (Sahni 1964;Bonde, 1986;Roy et al, 2021;Kumar et al, 2022a). In addition to palm woods, other abundant plant megafossils reported from the Deccan Traps are silicified dicot woods (Lakhanpal et al, 1979;Bande and Khatri, 1980;Prakash, 1980, 1983;Bande et al, 1986;Mehrotra, 1989;Srivastava, 2010;Baas et al, 2017), and a few dicot leaf fossils (Prasad et al, 2013: Khan et al, 2020c.…”

“…They are described under the fossil genera Palmacites or Palmites, or more appropriately Palmophyllum. In addition, a few costapalmate leaves have been reported and described under the fossil genus Sabalites Roy et al, 2020;Kumar et al, 2022a). Only three reliable fossil species of pinnately compound palm leaf remains have been reported in the Indian fossil record (Guleria and Mehrotra, 1998;Guleria et al, 2005;, but no reliable spiny pinnate palm has been reported from there to-date.…”