Middle Eocene (Bartonian) vertebrate fauna from Bandah Formation, Jaisalmer Basin, Rajasthan, Western India

ABSTRACT

A small vertebrate faunal assemblage of late Middle Eocene (Bartonian) age is described from the Bandah Formation, a shallow marine deposit in the Jaisalmer Basin of Rajasthan state, Western India. The Bandah assemblage comprises representatives of selachians (sharks, rays), crocodilians, turtles and archaeocete cetaceans (archaic whales). The mammalian component of this fauna, though represented by fragmentary specimens, allows identification of two archaeocete taxa for the first time from the Palaeogene of Rajasthan: an unnamed protocetid close to Babiacetus and an andrewsiphiine remingtonocetid (Kutchicetus sp.). Occurrence of Eocene cetaceans in the Jaisalmer Basin brings to light a new, potentially rich cetacean-yielding horizon in India, and has the potential to allow a better understanding of early whale evolution in the Indian subcontinent.

KEYWORDS:

• Eocene
• Mammals
• Cetacea
• Jaisalmer Basin
• India

Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the three anonymous reviewers for their comments, which helped to improve this manuscript considerably. One of us (SB) thanks Prof. Hans Thewissen, Ohio, USA for helpful discussions. We would also like to express our gratitude to the Director General, Geological Survey of India, Central Headquarter, Kolkata for according permission for collaboration with Department of Earth Sciences, India Institute of Technology, Roorkee. KK, PP and DB also thank the Deputy Director General and HOD, Geological Survey of India, Western Region, Jaipur for providing departmental facilities, support and permission, and Dr. Sandip Som, Deputy Director General of RMH-IV for encouragement to publish this paper. Special thanks to Shri Suresh Srivastava, Retd. Director, Geological Survey of India for his constant support and guidance during this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.