Paleogene Ficus leaves from India and their implications for fig evolution and diversification.

Premise: Ficus is a scientifically and economically important genus with abundant fossil records from the Paleocene to Pleistocene, but with an intriguing early evolutionary history that remains unresolved. Here, the foliage of three well-preserved figs is described from the early Paleogene succession of the Gurha mine, Rajasthan, India. These fossils provide new morphological data that strengthens our understanding of the past occurrences of Ficus and, alongside all validly published records of fossil figs, helps to trace the evolutionary history of figs.

Vegetation response and landscape dynamics of Indian Summer Monsoon variations during Holocene: an eco-geomorphological appraisal of tropical evergreen forest subfossil logs.

The high rainfall and low sea level during Early Holocene had a significant impact on the development and sustenance of dense forest and swamp-marsh cover along the southwest coast of India. This heavy rainfall flooded the coastal plains, forest flourishing in the abandoned river channels and other low-lying areas in midland.The coastline and other areas in lowland of southwestern India supply sufficient evidence of tree trunks of wet evergreen forests getting buried during the Holocene period under varying thickness of clay, silty-clay and even in sand sequences.

Cocos sahnii Kaul: a Cocos nucifera L.-like fruit from the Early Eocene rainforest of Rajasthan, western India.

Cocos sahnii Kaul, a fossil palm fruit, is validated and described from the Fuller's earth deposits of Kapurdi village of Rajasthan considered as Early Eocene in age. The fossil best resembles the genus Cocos, particularly Cocos nucifera L., which is now a common coastal element thriving in highly moist conditions.