In an extraordinary breakthrough under the banner of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, scientists from the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), Lucknow, have unearthed a 24-million-year-old fossil surprise buried deep within Assam’s Makum Coalfield—reshaping our understanding of India’s ancient plant life.
The team identified fossilized leaves belonging to the Nothopegia genus, a plant group now found solely in the rain-soaked forests of the Western Ghats, located thousands of kilometers away. This marks the world’s oldest record of Nothopegia, pushing the evolutionary history of this plant lineage back by millions of years.
A Glimpse into Ancient Assam’s Climate
Using state-of-the-art tools like CLAMP (Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program), researchers discovered that Assam’s late Oligocene era climate closely resembled the current warm, moist conditions of the Western Ghats. But due to tectonic upheavals and the rise of the Himalayas, the region cooled dramatically—forcing tropical species like Nothopegia to vanish from the Northeast and flourish in the Ghats instead.
A Story of Survival and Climate Migration
“This fossil discovery is a window into the past that helps us understand the future of biodiversity amid climate change,” said Dr. Harshita Bhatia, co-author of the study. The findings reveal how ancient climate shifts and geological transformations shaped plant survival and migration—a process that continues to this day as species adapt to modern climate challenges.
A Wake-Up Call for Conservation
This discovery highlights the need to protect biodiversity hotspots like the Western Ghats, where ancient plant lineages such as Nothopegia have withstood nature’s harshest tests.
