The Origin and Diversification of Plant Family Dipterocarpaceae

Mahi Bansal,Shivaprakash K Nagaraju,Vandana Prasad

doi:10.4236/ojg.2019.910050

Abstract

The Dipterocarpaceae plant family, that shows a disjunct distribution in Gondwanan continents and Southeast Asia, is a dominant constituent of the tropical rain forests of Southeast Asia. The high species diversity of Dipterocarpaceae in SE Asian rain forests suggests its origin from SE Asia. However, its fossil history is much younger, from Oligocene, from the region. Based on the pollen fossil records from the late Cretaceous-early Paleogene sedimentary sequences of Indian subcontinent and the contemporaneous distribution of its extant taxa, evolutionary history of Dipterocarpaceae has been traced. The study suggests a West Gondwanan origin for this family. Present study also provides first evidence of Dipterocarpaceae genus Vateriopsis (endemic in Seychelles) type fossil pollen record from the late Cretaceous and early Palaeogene sedimentary sequences of western Indian margin.

Highlights

Dipterocarpaceae, an economically important arborescent family distributed in SE Asian tropical regions, is important for the production of timber, camphor and resins
The current study finds the presence of Vateriopsis type pollen fossil from the Upper Cretaceaous and Lower Palaeogene deposits of intertrappeans of central India and Bikaner Basin, Rajasthan, India, respectively
This study documents the variety of Dipterocarpus type pollen fossils from the Upper Cretaceous of infratrappeans and intertrappeans of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, central India, and the Lower Paleogene of Bikaner Basin, Rajasthan, western India

Summary

Introduction

Dipterocarpaceae, an economically important arborescent family distributed in SE Asian tropical regions, is important for the production of timber, camphor and resins. The family is subdivided into three subfamilies: 1) Monotoideae, restricted to Africa, Madagascar and South America; 2) Pakaraimoideae, endemic to South America; 3) Dipterocarpoideae, distributed in SE Asia [2]. Pseudomonotes and Marquesia, the representatives of Monotoideae distributed across Africa and Madagascar cultivate in seasonally dry forests. It has been found that various species of Dipterocarpoideae have the adaptability to seasonally wet and aseasonal perhumid tropical regions of SE Asia [1]. Due to more plasticity in the climatic adaptive nature, members of Dipterocarpoideae exhibit greater species diversity compared to the other two subfamilies. We are trying to assess both biogeographic hypotheses based on fossil data

Material and Method

Results

Discussion and Conclusion