Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

FIRST RECORD OF FOSSIL PARTHENOCISSUS (VITACEAE) LEAFFROM SIWALIK SEDIMENTS OF SARKKAGHAT, HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA AND ITS BIOGEOGRAPHIC IMPLICATIONS

Shivdatt Tiwari, Rajeev Ranjan, Alok and Mahesh Prasad

Abstract

A non- entire fossil leaf, Parthenocissus miocenica n. sp. is reported for the first time from the Upper Miocenesediments of Sarkaghat area in the Himalayan foot hills of Himachal Pradesh, India. It shows closeresemblance with an extinct taxon, Parthenocissus semicordata (Wall.) Planch. of the family Vitaceae. This isone of the biogeographically important taxa which is native to Himalaya and presently distributed intropical and subtropical regions of N.W. India, Nepal to central China and western Malaysia. The presentrecovered fossil along with other known fossils from Sarkaghat area suggest a tropical humid climate inthe area during Miocene epoch.