Reinvestigating an enigmatic Late Cretaceous monocot: morphology, taxonomy, and biogeography of Viracarpon.

ABSTRACT: Angiosperm-dominated floras of the Late Cretaceous are essential for understanding the evolutionary, ecological, and geographic radiation of flowering plants. The Late Cretaceous-early Paleogene Deccan Intertrappean Beds of India contain angiosperm-dominated plant fossil assemblages known from multiple localities in central India. Numerous monocots have been documented from these assemblages, providing a window into an important but poorly understood time in their diversification. One component of the Deccan monocot diversity is the genus Viracarpon, known from anatomically preserved infructescences. Viracarpon was first collected over a century ago and has been the subject of numerous studies. However, resolution of its three-dimensional (3D) morphology and anatomy, as well

SUBMITTER: Matsunaga KKS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5890723 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature