Study of the pollen grains of ctenolophonidites from the warkalli deposits of South India with a note on the geological history of ctenolophon

Abstract

The paper deals with a systematic study of the pollen grains of Ctenolophonidites Van Hoeken Klinkenberg recovered in fair abundance from a lignite sample near Warkalli (Varkalai) in Kerala State. The geological age of the Warkalli lignite is Miocene, possibly Upper Miocene. The following species have been described in the paper, viz. Ctenolophonidites costatus, C. keralensis sp. nov., C. erdtmanii sp. novo and C. saadii sp. novo The fossil pollen grains show remarkable similarities with the pollen of the modern genus Ctenolophon of Ctenolophonaceae and are undoubtedly related to the latter. The paper comments upon the geological history of Ctenolophon both in time and space. The known geological history of this genus indicates that it enjoyed a much wider phytogeography during the Tertiary period compared to its present rather highly circumscribed distribution.