Dicroidium: no more a Triassic Gondwana index fossil

Abstract A large number of Dicroidium-frond, considered as the marker of Early Triassic Gondwana flora, are discovered for the first time with well preserved cuticle from Early Permian (Lower Gondwana) sequence of Barakar Formation, Satpura Gondwana Basin, India. The presence of Dicroidium in Late Permian mixed floral zone of Jordan has been viewed as its possible origin in paleotropics but the evidence in hand exhibits its Gondwanic derivation and threatens the recognition of Dicroidium flora for Middle Gondwana in association with Lower Gondwana Glossopteris and Upper Gondwana Ptilophyllun flora.