IPSD: e-repository of Permian seeds from Indian Lower Gondwana

Abstract

The interest and importance of studying the reproductive strategies of Palaeozoic plants are growing. Fossil seeds play an essential role in this line of study, as they are widely described from different sedimentary formations throughout the Permian period. The Indian Permian Seed Database (IPSD) software will be an information system for ensuring the storage, safety, accessibility and recovery of the details of Indian Permian seed records in a selective manner. The current database includes 28 genera and 44 species of compressed seeds described from Lower Gondwana (Permian), with all the details for researchers. The software provides options for addition, deletion, modification and search facility. The search also includes different options (single or combination). It is a quick and organised way to look for seeds, especially on a data grid for information about seeds that have already been published in the same or different sediments. IPSD is a tool for the computer-based identification of seeds and distinguishing different genera or species within the same category. It is user-friendly and provides updated knowledge of seeds from the Lower Gondwana basins of India. It provides morphotaxonomical characters, distribution and photo documentation of seeds. The software increases accuracy through computerassisted identification of seeds. Hence, reducing and curtailing unnecessary information while describing a new species with inadequate earlier knowledge of Permian seeds.