Burseraceae in the Latest Cretaceous of India: Sahniocarpon Chitaley & Patil

We reinvestigated the distinctive pentalocular fruits known as Sahniocarpon from the latest Cretaceous (late Maastrichtian) Deccan Intertrappean beds of central India, whose familial affinities within the angiosperms have previously been elusive. Using micro-computed tomography scanning to produce digital sections and surface renderings of the fruits and the contained seeds, supplementing the traditional thin section and peel methods, we discovered new characters useful in establishing affinities with the Burseraceae. The fruit is pedicellate with a hypogynous perianth, and each of the five locules contains a single-seeded pyrene, which bears narrow lateral wings similar to those of extant Boswellia (frankincense). Sahniocarpon fruits opened by the shedding of five septifragal valves, in the manner of dehiscent drupes in the Burseraceae. Cooccurring fruits, previously known as Cremocarpon deccanii Karanjekar, show a similar organization but differ by their smaller size. We consider the larger- and smaller-fruited species to represent two members of the same genus: S. harrisii Chitaley & Patil and S. deccanensis (Karanjekar) Manch., Kapgate & Judd comb. nov. These fruits, together with those of Bursericarpum indica Kumar et al. and others as yet undescribed, indicate that the Burseraceae were well represented in the vegetation of central India near the end of the Cretaceous and in the early Cenozoic.