BSIP finds world's oldest Nothopegia fossil leaves in Assam's Makum Coalfield
On 17 June 2025, the Department of Science and Technology said scientists of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow, found 24â23-million-year-old fossil leaves of the genus Nothopegia in the Makum Coalfield of Assam.
Summary
Researchers from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), studied fossil leaves from the Makum Coalfield of Assam, DST reported on 17 June 2025. The leaves resemble the modern genus Nothopegia, which today grows in the Western Ghats but is not found in northeast India. Dating to about 24â23 million years ago in the late Oligocene, they are the world's oldest known fossil record of Nothopegia. Using the Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program (CLAMP), the team reconstructed a warm, humid climate in northeast India at the time. The study was published in the journal Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology.
Key facts
- Institute
- BSIP, Lucknow (autonomous, DST)
- Find site
- Makum Coalfield, Assam
- Genus
- Nothopegia, now in Western Ghats, absent in northeast India
- Age
- About 24â23 million years, late Oligocene; oldest known Nothopegia fossil
- Method
- CLAMP climate reconstruction
- Journal
- Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology
Practice MCQs 2 questions
Fossil leaves found in Assam's Makum Coalfield, reported by DST on 17 June 2025, are the world's oldest known fossil record of which plant genus?
Show answer
Correct answer: A â Nothopegia
PIB (DST): The fossilized leaves, about 24â23 million years old, were the world's oldest known fossil record of the plant genus Nothopegia.
The Nothopegia fossil leaves studied by BSIP scientists were found in which coalfield?
Show answer
Correct answer: D â Makum Coalfield, Assam
PIB (DST): The fossil leaves were discovered in the Makum Coalfield, Assam.