Occurrence of Gynocardia odorata Robert Brown (Achariaceae, formerly Flacourtiaceae) from the Plio-Pleistocene sediments of Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India and its palaeoclimatic and phytogeographic significance

•Gynocardia seeds and leaves from the Pliocene–Pleistocene in Arunachal Pradesh•This is the first ever fossil record of Gynocardia seeds.•Tropical, warm and humid climatic conditions suggested during the deposition•Provides information on the nature of dispersal of Gynocardia seeds in the past

This paper reports the occurrence of leaf impressions along with carbonised seeds, resembling those of Gynocardia odorata Robert Brown, in the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene sediments of the Kimin Formation exposed around Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh. The recovery of this species and other earlier-described evergreen taxa from the same formation, suggests the existence of tropical, warm and humid climatic conditions during the depositional period. The seeds are here described as a new species Gynocardia arunachalensis Khan, Spicer TEV et Bera, sp. nov. So far, the report provides the first ever fossil record of Gynocardia seeds. We also characterise the nature of dispersal of this species in the past.