Aspirant Academy
ENHI

RAS question

With reference to the BSIP Jamun study, consider the following statements: 1. According to the study, the genus Syzygium first evolved in Australia and dispersed westwards into India. 2. A reinvestigation of older Indian fossil records suggests Syzygium has been continuously present in the Indian region since the Early Eocene, around 55 million years ago. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Correct answer: (D) 2 only.

The BSIP Jamun study supports the view that Syzygium has been continuously present in the Indian region since the Early Eocene, around 5.5 crore years ago, while rejecting an Australia-first origin.

  1. (A)

    1 only

  2. (B)

    1 and 2

  3. (C)

    Neither 1 nor 2

  4. (D)

    2 only

Explanation

Statement 2 is correct because the DST report says BSIP-led researchers critically re-examined earlier Indian fossil records and found that Syzygium was already present in the Indian region since the Early Eocene, about 5.5 crore years ago, showing a much earlier and continuous Indian presence. Statement 1 reverses the study's conclusion. The report notes that older views placed Syzygium's origin in Australia or Southeast Asia, but the new study points instead to an East Gondwanan origin, with India as a major centre of early diversification. The genus is then believed to have dispersed from India to Southeast Asia and Australia, not westwards from Australia into India.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (A) Statement 1 is wrong because the study overturns the Australia or Southeast Asia origin view and places the early evolution of Syzygium in the Indian region within East Gondwana.
  • (B) This option includes Statement 1, which is wrong, even though Statement 2 correctly reflects the reinvestigated fossil record showing continuous Indian presence since the Early Eocene.
  • (C) This option wrongly rejects Statement 2, although the DST report explicitly supports continuous presence of Syzygium in the Indian region from around 5.5 crore years ago.

Concept

This tests biogeography and fossil evidence in Science and Technology, especially how new palaeoscience findings can revise older origin-and-dispersal theories. Such questions recur in RAS because they link Indian research institutions, fossil records and biodiversity evolution.

Source

Related questions