Some new fossil woods from the Cuddalore Sandstone of south India

Five petrified woods showing affinities with Hopea of the family Dipterocarpaceae, Berrya of Malvaceae, Eucalyptus of Myrtaceae and Diospyros of Ebenaceae are systematically described from the Cuddalore Sandstone Formation exposed near Puducherry, Tamil Nadu. Among them, four are new species, namely Hopenium tertiarum sp. nov., Berryoxylon cuddalorensis gen. et sp. nov., Eucalyptoxylon cuddalorensis sp. nov. and Ebenoxylon cuddalorensis sp. nov. Their modern counterparts indicate the existence of wet evergreen forests in the region during the depositional period. However, most of the modern comparable forms of the fossils are absent from the region today and found in the Western Ghats and northeast India having equable climate thereby indicating a change in the climatic conditions in the eastern coast of south India since the late Cenozoic.