ANATOMICALLY PRESERVED FRUITS OF MONTIACEOUS AFFINITY (CARYOPHYLLALES) FROM THE LATEST CRETACEOUS OF INDIA: KUPRIANOVAITES DECCANENSIS NAMBUDIRI & THOMAS

Abstract

Fruits of the caryophyllalean family Montiaceae are recognized from the latest Cretaceous Deccan Intertrappean beds of central India. Although initially interpreted as the sporocarp of an aquatic fern, Kuprianovites Nambudiri & Thomas was subsequently demonstrated to belong to the group Centrospermeae. The name Kuprianovites deccanensis Nambudiri & Thomas takes priority over subsequent synonyms, Centrospermocarpon chitaleyae Sheikh & Kubalkar, Deccanocarpon arnoldii Paradkar, and Portulacaceocarpon bhuterensis Borkar, Nagrale, Meshram, Korpenwar, & DD Ramteke. We studied anatomically preserved specimens using successive acetate peels and micro–computed tomography scanning. The fruits are thin-walled trivalved globose capsules bearing 30 or more seeds in free-central placentation. The seeds are ellipsoidal and bear strongly curved embryos. Although formerly assigned to the Portulacaceae as that family was traditionally circumscribed, the fossil is excluded from the Portulaca clade (i.e., Portulaceaceae s.s.) and conforms instead to the Montiaceae by its valvate, rather than circumscissile, capsules and valves with undifferentiated cell layers.