Abstract
Abundant silicified fruits formerly attributed to the Euphorbiaceae have been reinvestigated and found to represent Arecaceae. The fruits are from Ghughua near Shapura, in Madhya Pradesh, central India, of probable early Paleocene age. Fruits of Palmocarpon drypeteoides (Mehrotra, Prakash et Bande) comb. nov. are trilocular indehiscent drupes. The distinctive feature of germination pores, one of which is dorsally positioned near the base of each carpel, indicates that these fruits represent palms rather than a dicotyledonous family. Among extant Arecaceae, closest morphological and anatomical similarities are found among South American representatives of subtribe Attaleinae, within tribe Cocoseae, of the subfamily Arecoideae. These fossils indicate an early presence of Attaleinae in the Old World tropics and relatively rapid intercontinental dispersal in view of the hypothesized South American origin of the clade. Palmocarpon drypeteoides, together with three other palm fruit taxa and abundant vegetative remains previously published from the same beds, indicates that palms were diverse, as well as abundant, in the Ghughua flora of India.
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