The oldest macrofossil record of the mangrove fern Acrostichum L. from the Late Cretaceous Deccan Intertrappean beds of India

Permineralized material of Acrostichum, a fern that, at present, is characteristic of brackish parts of tropical mangrove swamps, has been found in the Deccan Intertrappean cherts of Late Cretaceous age in Nawargaon, Wardha District, Maharashtra, India. The occurrence is significant as it is the oldest and also the first pre-Cenozoic macrofossil record of the genus. Being primarily a coastal plant, its presence in the Intertrappean flora has palaeoecological and phytogeographical implications because the Deccan basalt province of northwest India was linked to the equatorial ocean of southwestern Tethys during the Late Cretaceous.