PalaMbolallisl49 (2000) 485-489 0031-0174/2000/485-489 $2.00

Occurrence of fossil in the Early' Miocene of Himachal Pradesh, *

lS. GULERIA', RASHMI SRIVASTAVA' AND RITESH ARYA'

'Birbal Salllli Inslilllle of Palaeobolany, 53 Ulliversily Road, Lucknol1' 226 007, India. Ell/ail: [email protected]: rasltllu·[email protected] 2 168 Aadalh BaZ.(I/; Kasa II Ii, Rill/ac!wl Pradesh 172 304, India.

(Received 15 February 2000: revised version accepted 08 June 2000)

ABSTRACT

Guleria JS. Srivastava R & Arya R 2000. Occurrence or rossil MilragYIlG in tile Early Miocene or Himachal Pradesh. India. Palacobotanist 49(3) . 485-489.

The paper reports tile occurrence of a fossil lear and a rruit. resembling tllose or MilragYlla parvijolia (Roxb.) Korth., in tile Early Miocene sediments of Kasauli Formation exposed around Kasauli township in Himachal Pradesh. It indicates the existence or warm and moist conditions around Kasauli during Early Miocene, in contrast to tile presently prevailing cooler conditions. The report rorms the earliest known record of the genus from India till now.

Key-words-Fossilleaf. Fruit. MilragYI/G. Early Miocene. Himachal Pradesh. India.

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INTRODUCTION Pradesh in Western Himalayas. It is massively developed in and around Kasauli township (Chaudhri, 1969) and its HE Kasauli Formation is one of the important Tertiary sediments contain well preserved remains comprising Tsedimentary deposits around Kasauli Hills of Himachal leaves, fruits, flowers, seeds, buds, etc. Occurrence of plant remains in Kasauli sediments was first reported by Medlicott 'The paper was presented at the XVI Convention of the Indian Association in 1864 (pp. 12, 97-99). Some palm leaf fragments referred to of Sedimentologisls held at the Jammu University. Jammu in October, 1999 Sabal Il/ajor Heer were later figured by Feistmanlel (1882,

PLATE 1

I. A fruit of MilragYllo sollllii x 1·5. 4. Counterpart of leaf of Mirrag)'l/o rertioro. Natural size. 2. Modern fruit of Milrogvl/O porvi{"lio. Natural size. 5 Modern leaf of MirrogYllo pon'i/illia. Natural size. 3 A leaf of MirragYllo rariofo. Natural size. GULERIA cia/. -OCCURRENCEOF FOSSILMITRAGYNA IN THE EARLY MIOCENE 487 pp. 52-53, figs 3-5). Subsequently Sahni (1953, 1964), Description-Fruit specimen more or less circular. Chaudhri (1969), Arya and Awasthi (1994, 1995), Awasthi er MUltiple/composite fruit, round to globose in shape, 1·3 cm al. (1996), Mathur er al. (1996). Guleria er al. (2000) and in diameter, surface uneven, angular-polygonal due to Arya et al. (2001) reported a number of genera from these aggregate nature of fruit. sediments. Affinities-Comparisons were made with fruits of various The present material was collected from the road cutting genera, such as, Casuarina Linn. (Casuarinaceae). Cudrania adjoining MES Inspection Bungalow of Kasauli (30°54' 00" Trecul. (Moraceae), Datura Linn. (Solanaceae), Guazuma N: 76° 58' OO"E) (Fig. 1). The lithology of the formation is Miller. (Sterculiaceae) (Bose et al., 1998, p. 246, photo no. well documented (Chaudhri, 1968; Srivastava & Casshyap, 790), Mirragyna Korth. (Rubiac;eae) (Bose et aI., 1998, p. 1983; Mathur et al., 1996). The material investigated was 327, photo no. 1044-46) and Nephelium Linn. (Sapindaceae) mainly found in grey to greenish micaceous siltstone. The showing apparent similarity with the fossil. It was found that specimens have been deposited in the repository of the Birbal the fossil fruit shows best resemblance in shape and size with Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow. the modern fruits of Mitragyna parvifolia. The fossil forms the first record of Mitragyna parvifolia fruit. Its occurrence is SYSTEMATICS not at all surprising and is very much expected along with its leaves in the same sediments. As the fruit has not been found Family- in organic connection with the leaf of Mitragyna tertiara, a new specific name Mitragyna sahnii has been assigned to'it. Genus-MITRA GYNA Korth. The specific name is after late Professor Birbal Sahni who MITRAGYNA TERTIARA Konomatsu & Awasthi, 1999

(PL 1'3-4) Marerial- The description is based on a leaf impression and its counterpart. Description-Leaf simple, appearing symmetrical, o 0 seemingly narrow obovate, preserved lamina length 8.8 cm, o o maximum width 4.9 cm, apex broken, base missing, margin o 0 entire, texture chartaceous, petiole not preserved; venation pinnate, camptodromous - eucamptodromous, primary vein (1°), simple, stout, almost straight, secondary veins (2°) angle of divergence acute, moderate 32°_36°, relatively thinner than primary vein, alternate to opposite, more or less uniformly curved, intersecondary veins absent; tertiary veins (30) angle of origin 75°-80°, pattern percurrent, simple, oblique, closely o spaced, higher order venation not seen. 000 Affinities-The important characters of the fossil leafare: o0 0 000 o"~ simple, narrow obovate chartaceous leaf with entire margin, ~ o 0 0 • eucamptodromous venation, secondaries alternate to opposite . 0 0 0 '\0 I J V\' o 0 ~ o 0 o. o\ in arrangement and tertiaries percurrent, simple, obliquely arranged. In all these characters the fossil shows close I0OI KASAULI similarity with modern leaves of Mitragyna parvifolia (Roxb.) L2..J FORMATION Korth. A lot of variation in shape and size of the extant leaves of Mitragyna parvifolia was observed while surveying them r::=:=::lDAGSHAI ~ FORMATION at the Herbarium of the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. However, the fossils were found to show the best resemblance with leaves of Mitragyna parvifolia (Roxb.) Korth. of the ER.r. D)sUBATHU Herbarium Sheet no. 105/155661. o FORMATION Specimen no.-BSIP38392. @ FOSSIL LOCALITY o I ZKm MITRAGYNA SAHNII sp. nov. , , (PI. 1'1) MQ/erial-It consists of a single fruit impression. Fig. I-Geological map of Kasauli and adjoining area (after Bhatia. 1982) showing fossil locality. 488 THE PALAEOBOTANIST first described some plant fossils in detail from the Kasauli conditions and throw light on uplift of the sediments since sediments. Hopefully, in future the leaves and fruits may be Early Miocene. found in organic connection on the same branch. Acknowledgements-The aUlhors are gralejitl 10 Prof AI/shu K Holotype-Specimen No. BSIP 38393. Sinha, DireClOl; Birbal Salllli Im/illrle of PalaeobOlany for pennil­ Discussion-The authors are aware of only two records ling Ihem 10 publish Ihe paper (vide BSIPlRCPClPUIJU2000-16). of fossil leaves of Mitragyna namely, M. panJifolia and M. They also express Iheir Ihanks 10 Ihe aUlhorilies of Ihe Foresl Re­ lertiara. The former has been reported by Bande and search Illslilllle, Dehradunfor permissiolllo COlls/tillheir herbarium Srivastava (1990, p. 352) from the Late Cenozoic sediments They would like 10 Ihank Ihe learned reviewers RN Lakhanpal, II' Awaslhi alld DL Dilcherfor Iheir valuable sllggesl;ons. ofPalamu District, Bihar. The exact age of these sediments is yet to be ascertained. The shale bed from which M. parvifolia has been repOfted is said to be of Late Tertiary or Quaternary REFERENCES in age by Puri and Misra (1982), Bande and Srivastava (1990, p. 364). It has also been considered to be post - Pliocene (Post­ Arya R & Awasthi N 1994. A new of lJallhinia from the Tertiary) in age by Guleria (1992, p. 305). The latter (M. Kasallii Formation (Lower Miocene), Kasauli. Himachal Pradesh. tertiara) showing resemblance with modern Mitragyna Geophytology 24 : 59-62. Arya R & Awasthi N 1995. Leaf impressions from Kasallii Formation. parvifolia has recently been reported from the Upper Miocene Kasallli, Himachal Pradesh and their palaeoecologic and sediments of Arung Khola, Nepal (Konomatsu & Awasthi, palaeoenvironmental significance. Proceedings ofthe Symposium 1999, p. 172). The authors are not aware of any previous repOft North- West Himalaya and Foredeep, Geological Survey of India. of a fossil fruit of Mitragyna from India or elsewhere although Special Publication 21 : 271-276. a number of fruits referable to the family Rubiaceae have been Arya R, Guleria JS & Srivastava R 200 I. New records of plant fossils recorded by Vaudois-Mieja (1976). Since both the fossil leaf from the Kasallii sediments of Himachal Pradesh. North-West and the fruit described herein show close resemblance with India. Phytomorphology 51 . 41-47. those of the modern Mitragyna, the former has been placed Awasthi N. Guleria JS, Prasad M & Srivastava R 1996. Occurrence under the already existing species, Mitragyna lerliara of Acroslichul1l Linn., a coastal fern in the Tertiary sediments of Kasauli. Himachal Pradesh. north - west Himalaya. Palaeobotalllst Konomatsu and Awasthi (1999), which was established to 43 : 83-87. represent the fossil leaves of Mitragyna parvifolia and the Bande MB & Srivastava GP 1990. Late Cenozoic plant impressions later has been given a new name M. sahnii as no fruit of from Mahuadanr Valley. Palamu District, Bihar. Palaeobotanist Mitragyna is known so far. 37 • 331-366. The present fossils of Mitragyna reported from Kasauli Bhatia SB 1982. Facies, fauna and !lora or the Lower Tertiary of sediments of Himachal Pradesh form the earliest known record North-West Himalaya: A synthesis. Journal of palaeontological of the genus from the Tertiary (Early Miocene) of India. Society of India, Special Publication I: 8-20. The extant Mitragyna parvifolia (Roxb.) Korth. with Bose TK, Das P & Maiti GG 1998. of the World-I. Indian which the fossils show resemblance, is a large to medium ­ Regional Plant Resource Centre. Bhubaneshwar, India. Brandis D 1971. Indian Trees (Reprint, fifth Impression). Bishen sized deciduous , often buttressed at the base, attaining a Singh Mahendra Pal Singh. Dehradun. height of20 m and a girth of about 2 m. It is found throughout Champion HG & Seth SK 1968. A Revised Survey of the Forest the greater part of India ascending up to an altitude of 1,300 Types of India. Manager of Publications. Delhi. m in outer Himalayas and extends from the Ravi eastwards to Chaudhri RS 1968. Stratigraphy of the Lower Tertiary formations of Uttar ~radesh,Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, common in peninsular Punjab Himalayas. Geological Magazine 105 : 421-430. India, often gregarious, particularly in moist and low-lying Chaudhri RS 1969. Some leaf impressions from the Kasauli Series places around banks and swamps (Brandis, 1971; Sastri, 1962). of the Simla Hills. Current Science 38 .95-97. It is an important component of tropical moist deciduous Feislmantel 0 1882. Note on remains or palm leaves from the forests of India (Champion & Seth, 1968). (Tertiary) Murree and Kasauli beds of India. Record Geological Survey of India 15 : 51-53. Plant fossils are reliable indicators of past climate Gu leria JS 1992. Neogene vegetat ion of pen insu lar Indi a. specially when they can be related to extant taxa. This is Palaeobotanist 40 : 285-311. possible while dealing with Neogene plant remains. In view Guleria JS. Sri vastava R & Prasad M 2000. Some fossil leaves from of the present day ecological and climatic requirements of the Kasauli Formation of Himachal Pradesh. North-West India. Mitragyna parvifolia it has been deduced that during Early Himalayan Geology 2 I: 43-52. Miocene, warm and moist conditions prevailed around Kasauli Konomatsu M & Awasthi N 1999. Plant fossils from Arung Khola area. Furtber, the altitude of the area might have been around and Binai Khola formations of Churia Group (Siwalik). west 1,300 m in contrast to its present height of about 2,1 00 m. central Nepal and their palaeoecological and phytogeographical signi ficance. Palaeobolanist 48 : 163-181. Thus plant fossils indicate a considerable change in climatic Mathur AK. Mish&;aVP & Mehra S 1996. Systematic study or plant fossils from Dagshai. Kasauli and Dharamsala formations of GULERIA el aI-OCCURRENCE OF FOSSILMITRACYNA IN THE EARLY MIOCENE 489

Himachal Pradesh. Geological Survey of India, Palaeontologia Sahni B 1964. Revisions of Indian Fossil . Part III ­ Indica, New Series 50: 121. Monocotyledons. Monograph 1 : 1-89. Birbal Sahni Institute of MedlicOtl HB 1864. On the geological structure and relations of the Palaeobotany. Lucknow. southern portion of Himalayan range between the river Ganges Sastri BN (Chief Editor) 1962. The Wealth of India. Raw Materials. and Ravee. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India 3: 1-206 VI: L-M. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. New Puri SN & Mishra VP 1982. On the find of Upper Tertiary - Plant. Delhi. fish and bird fossils near Rajanda. Palamau District. Bihar. Record Srivastava VK & Casshyap SM 1983. Evolution of pre-Siwalik Geological Survey of India 112 (PI. 3) : 55-58. Tertiary basin of Himachal Himalaya. journal of Geological Sahni B 1953. Angiosperm leaf-impressions from the Kasauli beds. Society of India 24: 134-147. NW Himalayas. Palaeobotanist 2 : 85-87. Vaudois-Mieja N 1976. Sur deux fruits fossiles de Rubiaceae provenant des gres a sabals de )' Anjou (France). 97 0 Congres national des societes savantes. Nantes, sciences T.IY. 167-183.