OnBeaniopsis Rajmahalensis gen. et si. nov., a new type of gymnosperm female fructifications from the Jurassic of Behar

Summary

The interesting forms described in this paper under the new generic nameBeaniopsis were found at Onthea in the Rajmahal Hills. Most of the specimens show well preserved female cones with distant sporophylls attached alternately to the cone axis by means of slender stalks. The stalk of the sporophyll is straight and like the cone axis its surface is longitudinally wrinkled. The distal end of each stalk is spoon shaped and bears two seeds on its upper surface. The exact mode of attachment of the seeds is not quite clear and must remain unsettled till better preserved material is found. Usually the seeds are placed in such a manner that the median lines marking the principal planes of the two seeds lie in continuation with each other and in the same plane as the long axis of the sporophyll stalk. The seeds are somewhat almond shaped with the base rounded and cordate, and the micropylar end is elongated and flattened. The micropylar ends of the seeds in a pair diverge from each other at a wide angle.

The genus is evidently a gymnosperm and the only groups to which a relationship can be suggested, with the present data in hand, are the Cycadales and less probably the Ginkgoales.