Singpuria, a new genus of Eudicot flower from the latest Cretaceous Deccan Intertrappean Beds of India

Abstract

A new bisexual flower, Singpuria kapgatei, gen. et sp. nov., is described from chert of latest Cretaceous age from the Deccan Intertrappean Beds at Singpur, Madhya Pradesh, in central India. The hypogynous, actinomorphic flower is ~1.6 mm wide, with distinct sepals and petals. The androecium consists of 18 tetrasporangiate, dithecal, basifixed anthers borne in radial pairs on nine bifurcate filaments. The gynoecium is superior and syncarpous, with pentagonal symmetry. Pollen from the stamens is tricolporate and microreticulate. The combined morphological features of this flower indicate that Singpuria is a eudicot with affinities in the Pentapetalae, but we have been unable to make a more precise assignment. Nevertheless, we consider it useful to place this rare fossil flower on record as an exemplary extinct member of the Deccan biota. Singpuria may represent a clade that was isolated on the Indian subcontinent and became extinct in response to environmental changes at the K/Pg boundary, or later in the Cenozoic as the land mass moved northward through new climate zones and collided with Eurasia.