<p><strong>A replacement name for the poorly known illegitimate Paleogene genus <em>Psilamonocolpites</em> Y.K.Mathur (Ginkgoales)</strong></p>

Abstract

The monotypic genus Psilamonocolpites Mathur (1966: 40) was established to classify a new species of gymnosperm’s pollen fossil, within the informal taxon Ginkgo-group, from Western Kutch, in India. Psilamonocolpites longicolpatus Mathur (1966: 40), collected in Paleogene Suppratrappean sediments of Kutch Basin, is the type species by monotypy. Despite the fact that some subsequent contributions to the original description of the species have been focused on increasing knowledge about the palynological paleoflora of Kutch Basin and other Paleogene sedimentary environments located in the southern hemisphere (Venkatachala & Kar 1968, Saxena 1977, Askin 1990, Zavada & de Villiers 2000, Gengwu et al. 2006, Mathews et al. 2013), the occurrence of Psilamonocolpites longicolpatus Y.K.Mathur has not been documented since, and remained largely ignored in the scientific literature, partly because it is known only from the holotype collected approximately 56 years ago. No additional species to the type species of the genus has been described to date.