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Lagerstroemia L. from the middle Miocene Siwalik deposits, northern India: Implication for Cenozoic range shifts of the genus and the family Lythraceae

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Abstract

Fossil leaves of Lagerstroemia (Lythraceae) are described from the Siwalik deposits (middle Miocene) of Kathgodam, Uttarakhand, India. The fossil records of the Lythraceae indicate its worldwide distribution in the Cenozoic. The family had its widest distribution during the Miocene but became less widespread during the Pliocene, followed by range expansion during the Quaternary. The present leaf fossil, along with the previous fossil records of Lagerstroemia, indicates that the genus followed the same pattern of expansion and retraction as the entire family Lythraceae suggesting that both the genus and the family adapted in similar ways. The fossil plant assemblage from the Lower Siwalik deposits indicates warm and humid climate with plenty of rainfall in the region during the depositional period.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Directors, Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata and the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun for permission to consult the herbarium. They are also thankful to Prof. Sunil Bajpai, Director, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow for providing necessary facilities and permission to carry out this work. A part of this work was carried out under the U.G.C. major project numbered F. No. 39–76/ 2010 (SR), entitled ‘Search for Mio–Pliocene Primates and other mammalia in the Siwaliks of Northwest India’, awarded to the second author (RG). The authors express their gratitude to Prof. R A Spicer, one anonymous reviewer, and Prof. G V R Prasad for their constructive suggestions to improve the manuscript.

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  1. Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, 53 University Road, Lucknow, 226 007, India

    GAURAV SRIVASTAVA & R C MEHROTRA

  2. Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160 014, India

    RAJAN GAUR

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SRIVASTAVA, G., GAUR, R. & MEHROTRA, R.C. Lagerstroemia L. from the middle Miocene Siwalik deposits, northern India: Implication for Cenozoic range shifts of the genus and the family Lythraceae. J Earth Syst Sci 124, 227–239 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-014-0526-9

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