shedding new light on South Asia’s ancient biodiversity
♦ Scientists have uncovered a remarkable 24-million-year-old secret hidden in the coal beds of Assam’s Makum Coalfield, shedding new light on South Asia’s ancient biodiversity. ♦ Fossilized leaves, identified as the world’s oldest known record of the Nothopegia plant genus, were discovered by researchers from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP) in Lucknow, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science and Technology. ♦ The fossil leaves, dating back to the late Oligocene epoch (24–23 million years ago), bear a striking resemblance to the modern Nothopegia species found today in the Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world’s key biodiversity hotspots, located thousands of kilometers away from Assam. ♦ Notably, the Nothopegia genus no longer grows in Northeast India, making this discovery a significant clue to the region’s ecological past. ♦ Using advanced techniques such as herbarium comparison, cluster analysis, and the Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program (CLAMP), the research team reconstructed the ancient environment of North-East India.