JOURNAL GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF INDIA Vol.84, August 2014, pp.159-162
A New Fossil Leaf of Kleinhovia L. from the Early Eocene of India and its Palaeoclimatic and Phytogeographical Significance ANUMEHA SHUKLA, R. C. MEHROTRA and J. S. GULERIA Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53 University road, Lucknow – 226007 Email:
[email protected] Abstract: This study reports a new fossil leaf of Kleinhovia L., Kleinhovia bikanerensis sp. nov., from the Eocene clay mine of the Marh Formation of Bikaner, Rajasthan. The leaf resembling Kleinhovia hospita L. of the family Malvaceae is described for the first time from India. The leaf is characterized by very wide ovate shape, basal actinodromous venation with seven primary veins and cordate base. The presence of this leaf fossil indicates tropical warm and humid climatic conditions prevailing in the area during the Eocene and throws light on its past and present distribution. Keywords: Kleinhovia L., Bikaner, Evergreen forests, Palaeoclimate, Early Eocene, Rajasthan. INTRODUCTION
Bikaner, situated in the middle of the Thar desert, is characterized by extreme variations in temperature and low rainfall. In the summer season it becomes very hot with the temperature ranging between 28°–48.5 °C, while in the winter it remains fairly cold with temperature ranging between 5°–23.2 °C. Annual rainfall is in the range of 260– 440 mm (http://www.bikanertourism.com/bikaner-travel/ climate.html; (http://www.rajasthaninfo.org/bikaner.htm). The finding of an evergreen element i.e. Kleinhovia L. (family Malvaceae s.l.) from the early Eocene sediments of Bikaner is interesting as it provides evidence of the occurrence of evergreen forests in the region during the early Eocene. Although the genus Kleinhovia was placed in the family Sterculiaceae earlier, it is now included in the family Malvaceae s.l. (Hibiscus or mellow family) (Judd and Manchester, 1997; Alverson et al. 1999; Bayer et al. 1999; Bayer and Kubitzki, 2003; Soltis et al. 2005; Worberg et al. 2009; ). Though the fossil records of the family are known from India (Srivastava et al. 2012), this is the first record of the genus Kleinhovia L. as a fossil from India. MATERIAL AND METHODS
The fossil leaf was collected from an abandoned clay mine (i.e. Prem Lata Gupta Clay Mine) lying in the northeast of Kolayat on Kolayat-Bikaner road (27°52'30" N: 72°59'00" E) near Inda-Ka-Bala village (Fig. 1). The above clay mine belongs to the Marh Formation of the Bikaner-
Nagaur basin (Merh, 1995) of an early Eocene age (Bhandari, 1999; Ghosh, 1983) (Table 1). The terminology used in describing the fossil leaf is based on the nomenclature proposed by Dilcher (1974) and Ellis (2009). The fossil was identified with the help of herbarium sheets of the extant plants available at the Central National Herbarium (CNH), Howrah. The type specimens (Museum nos. BSIP 40068 and 40069) are housed in the museum of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow. SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION
Family: Malvaceae s.l. Genus: Kleinhovia L. Kleinhovia bikanerensis Shukla, Mehrotra and Guleria, sp. nov. (Figs 2a, 3a, b) Materials: Two (part and counterpart). Holotype: Specimen Nos BSIP 40068 and 40069. Horizon: Marh Formation. Locality: Inda-Ka-Bala (27°52’30'’ N: 72°59’00'’ E), Bikaner District, Rajasthan. Age: early Eocene. Specific diagnosis: Very wide ovate shape, entire margin, cordate base, basal actinodromous venation, seven primary veins and percurrent tertiaries. Description: Leaf simple, symmetrical, very wide ovate, preserved lamina length 6.8 cm (estimated lamina length 8 cm), preserved width 8.6 cm (estimated lamina width
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Fig.1. Map of Rajasthan showing the fossil locality.
9-10 cm); apex broken; base cordate; margin entire; texture appearing chartaceous; venation actinodromous basal, perfect, primary veins (1°) 7, middle primary vein straight, three pairs of lateral primaries curved and arising from the base at an angle of 50°-110° and curving upward and finally reaching to the margin; secondary veins (2°) alternate, with 40°-50° angle of divergence, fine, uniformly curved, 1-1.2 cm apart, emerging from the lateral primaries; tertiary veins (3°) poorly preserved, percurrent, alternate-opposite. The leaf also depicted leaf mines, an evidence of plant-animal interaction. Affinities: The characteristic morphological features of the fossil leaf such as entire margin, very wide ovate lamina, cordate base, actinodromous venation, 7 basal primary veins, uniformly curved secondaries and percurrent tertiary veins indicate its close proximity to the family Malvaceae. The Table 1. Generalized stratigraphy of the Bikaner-Nagaur Basin around the Kolayat area (after Ghosh, 1983) Formation
Facies and gross lithology
Age
Kolayat Formation
Sand and sandy alluvium, sandy calcareous grit, calcrete, gypsite, ferruginous band, semiconsolidated conglomerate Shaly and marly limestone with foraminifers, Fuller’s Earth with shale partings having casts of lamellibranchs and gastropods, ferruginous sandstone, gritty sandstone Clay with sandstone partings, ferruginous sandstone, gritty sandstone, grit and siltstone
Pleistocene to Recent
Jogira Formation
Marh Formation
Early to Middle Eocene
Early Eocene
…………. (?) Gradational contact……………. Palana Formation
Fine grained sandstone, carbonaceous shale and lignite
Early Palaeocene?
described leaf fossil bears close morphological resemblance with a few genera, namely Kleinhovia L., Pterygota Schott & Endl and Sterculia L. of the family Malvaceae. After detailed comparison, the leaves of Sterculia and Pterygota were found to be different from the fossil in having lobed margin and narrower ovate shape, respectively. The fossil resembles most with the genus Kleinhovia, particularly with Kleinhovia hospita L. (Herbaruim sheet no. CNH 706/ 58679; figure 2b, 3c), the sole living species of the genus. The present specimen was compared with the only known fossil species of Kleinhovia, Kleinhovia basitruncata (Oishi and Huzioka) Tanai (1989), from late Eocene Ikushunbetsu Formation of Hokkaido, Japan but found to be different from it in having cordate base which is truncate to broadly rounded in the Japanese species. Owing to this, it is named as Kleinhovia bikanerensis Shukla et al., sp nov., the specific name is after the Bikaner district from where the fossil was collected. DISCUSSION
Kleinhovia, with the only known species Kleinhovia hospita L. (syn. Kleinhovia serrata Blanco), is native to tropical parts of Africa, Asia and Australia (Mabberley, 1997; Shu, 2007) . K. hospita is an evergreen tropical tree with a dense, rounded crown and upright pink sprays of flowers and fruits, used as an antioxidant in Indonesia (Arung, 2009). Since fossils are the best tool to reconstruct the palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment of any region (Shukla et al. 2012a, b), we usually follow the concept of Nearest Living Relative (Mosbrugger and Utescher, 1997) (NLR). The NLRs of the present fossil, along with earlier described fossil assemblage (Guleria, 1984, 1990, 1992, 1996; Guleria JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.84, AUGUST 2014
A NEW FOSSIL LEAF OF Kleinhovia L. FROM THE EARLY EOCENE OF INDIA
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Fig.3. a-c. a. Line diagram of fossil leaf showing venation pattern and cordate base (marked by an arrow); b. enlarged portion of the fossil leaf showing cordate base (marked by an arrow) and seven primary veins arising from the base; c. Modern leaf of K. hospita showing similar base (marked by an arrow) and primary veins as in the fossil. (Scale bar = 1 cm).
Fig.2. a-b. a. Fossil leaf of Kleinhovia bikanerensis Shukla et al., sp nov. showing shape and size; b. Modern leaf of Kleinhovia hospita L. showing similar shape and size as in the fossil (Scale bar = 1 cm).
and Shukla, 2011) from the region are growing in well drained areas and are of evergreen to deciduous. This strongly indicates that the warm and humid climatic conditions prevailed in the region during the past in contrast to the present day deteriorated climate with xeric vegetation. Even a few elements also indicate the encroachment of sea in the desert of Rajasthan during the Eocene (Shukla et al. 2012c) . The complete absence of the genus Kleinhovia and other evergreen elements indicates a drastic change in climatic conditions of Rajasthan as a result of collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates, uplift of Himalayas and Tibetan plateau, and evolution, strengthening and long time JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.84, AUGUST 2014
fluctuation in the monsoonal conditions (Molnar et al. 1993). Malvaceae s.l. is relatively an ancient family and is considered to be southern Gondwanic in origin (Srivastava et al. 2012). Despite its presence in the Eocene sediments of Japan the present distribution of Kleinhovia and its discovery from the early Eocene sediments of India support possibility of the southern Gondwanic origin for the genus which might have reached to Asia rafting on the Indian plate when it collided with the Eurasian plate during the Eocene (Smith et al. 1994). However, we need some more fossil evidences to strengthen the above inference. Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to Dr. N.C. Mehrotra, Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow for providing necessary facilities and permission to publish this work. Thanks are also due to the authorities of the Central National Herbarium, Howrah for granting permission to consult their Herbarium. They are also thankful to the anonymous reviewer for his constructive suggestions.
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(Received: 6 September 2012; Revised form accepted: 22 May 2013)
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