Rhizopalmoxylon nypoides – a new palm root from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

A new species of fossil palm rhizome having root-mat under the organ genus Rhizopalamoxylon (Rhizopalmoxylon nypoides sp. nov.) is reported. The specimen shows the closest resemblance with the modern monotypic genus Nypa Wurmb of the Arecaceae. The specimen was collected from the late Maastrichtian–early Danian sediments of Deccan Intertrappean beds, Mothi, Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh, India. Nypa is a mangrove palm naturally found in estuaries and swamps of the tropical region and represents one of the oldest records of the genus from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of central India. The abundance of palms, including Nypa and previously recorded coastal and mangrove elements such as Acrostichum, Barringtonia, Cocos, Sonneratia and marine algae (Distichoplax and Peyssonellia) from the Deccan Intertrappean beds indicate marine influence and existence of tropical rainforest ecosystem in the vicinity of fossil locality in contrast to the deciduous forests occurring there at present.