科研之友
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摘要
A small collection of fossil fruits of dicotyledonous plants, having close affinity with modern taxa, Ziziphus xylopyros Willd. (Rhamnaceae), Combretum decandrum Roxb. and Terminalia chebula Retz. (Combretaceae) and Lagerstroemia flos-reginae and Lagerstroemia parviflora (Lythraceae) is reported from the subsurface beds of the Cambay Shale Formation exposed in an open-cast lignite mine at Vastan village near Surat, western India. Well preserved fossilized fruits have limited transport to burial histories from their plant producers and therefore have great potential to provide excellent data about the character of forests such as the one that may have contributed to the formation of the extensive Lower Eocene lignite deposits of western India. The fossilized fruits from Vastan are referred here to four new form species, viz. Ziziphus eocenicus, Combretum vastanensis, Terminalia cambaya and Lagerstroemia sahnii. The habitat and present day distribution of extant comparable taxa suggest the prevalence of tropical deciduous forest with moisture-loving plants in the Vastan mine area during the Early Eocene period. Such deciduous forests presently occur in south Coimbatore, Palghat and moister parts of Mysore region of southern India.
- 出版日期2010-6-25
