Legumes from the Paleocene sediments of India and their ecological significance

Abstract

During the early Paleogene, greenhouse gases created warm global climates. These warm climates redistributed the habitat of marine and terrestrial biota globally. Understanding the ecology of biotas under extremely warm climates is important to decipher their behavior in future climate warming. Here we report two new legume fossils (Leguminocarpum meghalayensis Bhatia, Srivastava et Mehrotra sp. nov., and Parvileguminophyllum damalgiriensis Bhatia, Srivastava et Mehrotra sp. nov.) from the late Paleocene sediments of Tura Formation of Meghalaya, northeast India. Globally, the Paleocene legume fossil records indicate that legumes most likely immigrated to India from Africa via the Ladakh-Kohistan Arc during the early Paleogene. Moreover, previously reconstructed climate data from the Tura Formation indicate that legumes were well adapted to a warm seasonal climate with monsoon rains.