Glutoxylon Chowdhury (Anacardiaceae): the first record of fossil wood from Bangladesh

This paper documents the first record of silicified fossil wood from a previously undescribed wood-rich horizon in the Sitakund Anticline, Eastern Bangladesh. The outcrop is composed of cross-stratified, fine-medium grained sandstones with bidirectional cross stratification indicative of a tidal environment, deposited ca. 5-5.2 million years before present (Miocene/Pliocene). The wood is characterised by large solitary vessels with alternate intervascular pits, banded parenchyma, uniseriate rays, and multiseriate rays with one radial canal per ray. This character combination closely resembles the wood of extant Gluta L. of the Anacardiaceae. This specimen has been assigned to the organ genus Glutoxylon Chowdhury erected for fossil woods with anatomical similarity to Gluta (including Melanorrhoea Wall.). The excellent preservation of this mature wood specimen illustrates the potential for using fossil wood from the Sitakund locality for palaeoecological studies in terms of biodiversity and adaptational response to climate change. Moreover such investigations of fossil woods from Bangladesh will compliment studies undertaken on fossil plants in other parts of Central and Southeastern Asia which will further the understanding of plant migration routes between India and Southeast Asia during the Tertiary.