ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Angiosperm affinities of Surangea from the late Cretaceous Deccan Intertrappean Beds of central India
1
Gondia Education Society High School and Junior College, Mohadi. Dist., Gondia, 4416014-M.S., India
2
Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences and Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48019, USA
3
Department of Botany, J. M. Patel College, Bhandara-441904, India
4
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611-7800, USA
Online publication date: 2022-12-30
Publication date: 2022-12-30
Acta Palaeobotanica 2022; 62(2): 196–204
HIGHLIGHTS
- Permineralized reproductive structures previously interpreted as fern megaspores are reinterpreted as angiosperm fruits.
- The fruits are pentalocular septicidal capsules with seeds in axile placentation.
- The seeds are ornamented with transverse ribs rather than spines, and are prominently arillate.
- Although assignable to the angiosperm clade Pentapetalae, extant familial affinity remains elusive.
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The genus Surangea Chitaley et Sheikh, based on permineralized specimens from the Deccan Intertrappean
Beds of central India, was originally considered to represent a fern megasporangium. Reexamination
of original material and new specimens has revealed that the structures are capsular fruits with well-defined
seeds, rather than megasporangia. We describe Surangea fruits in detail, based on peels and micro-CT scanning,
and document its distribution among multiple localities of the Deccan Intertrappean Beds. The fruits are
pentacarpellate septicidal capsules with ~8–12 seeds per locule. The seeds are prominently ornamented with
parallel ridges and have a curved embryo/endosperm cavity and a prominent aril. This set of features indicates
eudicotyledonous affinities for Surangea. In particular, the combination of septicidal capsules, axile placentation
and arillate campylotropus seeds suggests affinity with the order Myrtales, but it does not fit cleanly within an
extant family. Surangea fruits add to the diversity of angiosperms known from this late Maastrichtian flora. It
joins several other fruit types known from the Deccan flora that do not fall neatly into extant families, possibly
representing parts of an endemic community that succumbed to environmental stress associated K-Pg boundary
events and/or subsequent northward rafting of the Indian subcontinent.
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