A petrified bilocular dicotyledonous fruit from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Singhpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

A petrified bilocular fruit is described from the Deccan Intertrappean beds of Singhpur (Lat.20º1' N; Long.70º1' E), situated about 3 km from the well-known locality Mohgaonkalan in Madhya Pradesh, India. The fruit is bilocular, sessile, and ovoid. Of the two locules, one is with a seed, the other is empty. There is an air chamber in the septa. Pericarp is well formed. Epicarp shows presence of lacunar fibrous bundles and towards the inner side parenchymatous tissue with empty raised cavities. Seed is single and bitegmic with ridges and furrows. Fruit shows loculicidal dehiscence. The fruit could not be assigned to any living family. Since it differs from the known fossil fruits, it is named as Bicarpelarocarpon singhpurii gen. et sp. nov.