A permineralized conifer pollen cone from the Deccan Intertrappean beds (Uppermost Cretaceous) of India (With 5 plates, 3 text-figures)

A permineralized conifer pollen cone is described here from the Uppermost Cretaceous Deccan Intertrappean beds of Mohgaonkalan, Chhindwara District, Madhya Pradesh, India. The cone is small, exposed longitudinally showing a central axis with 10-12 sporophylls on each side. Each sporophyll consists of a stalk and expanded head. A few microsporophylls are seen with pollen sacs on the lower surface of the head. Some detached pollen sacs are also seen in close association. Pollen grains are small, non-saccate, spheroidal, inaperturate, scabrate; with granulate exine and exinal folds. Comparisons with the known fossil pollen cones from Upper Jurassic - Cretaceous of different parts of the world show that this cone is different in many characters to warrant its assignment to a new genus and species, Deccanostrobus araucarioides. The generic name is after the Deccan plateau of India; and the species is attributed to the family Araucarlaceae, mainly on the basis of some similarity in pollen structure and tracheid pitting.