First Early Cretaceous sharks from India

ABSTRACT

A small assemblage of first Early Cretaceous (Aptian) sharks from India is described from the Habur Formation of Jaisalmer Basin, Rajasthan state, western India. Based on isolated teeth, five lamniform genera, namely Cretalamna, Dwardius, Leptostyrax, Squalicorax, and ? Eostriatolamia are identified. Of these, the records of Dwardius and ? Eostriatolamia may possibly be amongst the globally oldest, and therefore paleobiogeographically significant. These finds open up new possibilities for collection and study of Early Cretaceous marine vertebrates from India.

KEYWORDS:

• Lamniform sharks
• Cretaceous
• India

Acknowledgments

The authors thankfully acknowledge the comments and suggestions of Charlie J. Underwood (Birkbeck, University of London) and also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments which helped improve the manuscript. Authors from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) extend their gratitude and thanks to the Director General, Geological Survey of India for giving this opportunity to submit the scientific work. Authors express sincere thanks to the Additional Director General & HOD, Geological Survey of India, Western Region, Jaipur, the Deputy Director General & RMH-IV, Geological Survey of India, Western Region, Jaipur and the Director, Palaeontology Division, Geological Survey of India, Western Region, Jaipur for providing departmental facilities, timely support and constant guidance. Special thanks to Shri T. Vaideswaran, the then Director, Palaeontology Division, Geological Survey of India, Western Region for the overall support during the study. This paper is part of the ongoing doctoral work of one of us (Triparna Ghosh) at Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT, Roorkee). Sunil Bajpai would like to acknowledge support obtained from IIT Roorkee as part of his Institute Chair Professorship.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.