Indian Tertiary angiosperm pollen: A critical assessment

Abstract

More than 400 genera and 1000 species of angiosperm pollen are known from the Tertiary sediments of India. It has been observed that large numbers of these taxa are based on one or few specimens and meagre morphological differentiation. Thus, their usefulness is limited, Thanikaimoni et al., (1984) and Venkatachala et al., (989), in an effort to distinguish important stratigraphic and environmental markers, selected several taxa and illustrated, discussed and compared them with the African pollen. In continuation, holotypes, paratypes and other specimens of selected species available at the repository of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow have been restudied, critically evaluated and their morphological limits circumscribed to make them more useful and applicable for age determination and stratigraphic correlation as well as for Palaeoenvironmental interpretation with emphasis on their affinity with extant taxa.

Palynological investigation and environmental interpretation on Akli Formation (Late Palaeocene) from Barmer Basin, western Rajasthan, India

“…Proxapertites and Nypa pollen both had a pantropical distribution and have been recorded in high frequency in deltaic and shallow marine sediments (Muller, 1979;MandaI, 1986;Tripathi, 1997;Kar & Sharma, 2001). The genus Acantltotricolpiles, possibly related with Nypa (Venkatachala et al, 1986), is also recorded in good number in the assemblage.…”

Palynological record from Chhasra Formation (Early Miocene), Eastern Kutch, Gujarat

“…Coastal elements belonging to Spinizonocolpites and Spinomonocolpites show a strong affinity with Nypa fruticans. Similarly, the genus Acanthotricolpites, also related to Nypa (Venkatachala et al, 1996), is profusely represented. The genus Nypa, represented by the extant species N. fruticans, is a mangrove palm growing in tidal mud flats fringing the tidal reaches of large fresh water rivers (Morley, 2000).…”

Palynological investigations, facies analysis and palaeoenvironmental interpretations from Late Palaeocene to Early Eocene lignites and associated sediments of Barmer, western India

“…Similarly, Proxapertites, based on its morphological features, has been interpreted to represent an extinct group of palms possibly related to Nypa (Muller, 1968;Frederiksen, 1985). The genus Acanthotricolpites, in all likelihood, also related to Nypa (Venkatachala et al, 1996) is profusely recorded in the Akli Assemblage. Fossil records show that different species of this genus produced pollen with a great morphological diversity Tripathi, 1994;Singh, 1999;Tripathi et al, 2003;Divya Srivastava, 2008).…”