ABSTRACT The Cambay Formation at Vastan Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded the oldest ar... more ABSTRACT The Cambay Formation at Vastan Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded the oldest artiodactyls and other land mammals from India, which are dated as middle Ypresian (∼ 53 Ma) based on foraminiferids. Here we describe new dentitions, including ...
Extensively bored log-grounds with ichnospecies Teredolites longissimus and body fossils of the c... more Extensively bored log-grounds with ichnospecies Teredolites longissimus and body fossils of the causative teredinid molluscs are recorded from the Early Eocene subsurface beds of the Cambay Shale Formation at Vastan lignite Mine in western India. Three sizes of T. ...
The Ypresian Cambay Shale Formation of Vastan Lignite Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded... more The Ypresian Cambay Shale Formation of Vastan Lignite Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded a rich vertebrate fauna, including the earliest modern mammals of the Indian subcontinent. Here we describe its assemblage of four frogs, including two new genera and species, based on numerous, diverse and well−preserved ilia and vertebrae. An abundant frog, Eobarbourula delfinoi gen. and sp. nov., with a particular vertebral articulation similar to a zygosphene−zygantrum complex, represents the oldest record of the Bombinatoridae and might have been capable of displaying the Unken reflex. The large non−fossorial pelobatid Eopelobates, known from complete skeletons from the Eocene and Oligocene of Europe, is also identified at Vastan based on a single nearly complete ilium. An abundant “ranid ” and a possible rhacophorid Indorana prasadi gen. and sp. nov. represent the earliest records of both families. The Vastan pelobatids and ranids confirm an early worldwide distribution of these f...
Bajpai et al.’s recent paper (2005a) describing an important new Early Eocene mammal fauna from t... more Bajpai et al.’s recent paper (2005a) describing an important new Early Eocene mammal fauna from the Cambay Shale of Vastan Lignite Mine, Gujarat, India has a number of errors related to identification, naming, definition, characterisation and description of new taxa, and measurements of dentitions etc. that need to be recorded and addressed. This contribution discusses and clarifies some of the errors and will be useful for understanding the real impact of the Vastan fauna in relation to the India-Asia collision, the mammalian palaeobiogeography and origin of modern placental mammals.
A series of osteological characters of Taverneichthys bikanericus from the continental Paleocene ... more A series of osteological characters of Taverneichthys bikanericus from the continental Paleocene of India are studied, allowing specifying its systematic position within the Osteoglossidae. It is shown that on the basis of its peculiar snout morphology this species occupies an intermediate position between genera such as Chanopsis and Phareodus, which possess a primitive snout with a large dermethmoid reaching the frontals and separating the two nasals from each other, and such as Brychaetus, Musperia, Opsithrissops, Osteoglossum and Scleropages, which exhibit an evolved snout. The latter presents nasals, which are articulated to the frontals, meeting each other on the mid-line, except at their anterior edge, where a small dermethmoid, largely separated from the frontals, is inserted between.
ABSTRACT The anatomy of Cambaytherium, a primitive, perissodactyl-like mammal from the lower Eoce... more ABSTRACT The anatomy of Cambaytherium, a primitive, perissodactyl-like mammal from the lower Eocene Cambay Shale Formation of Gujarat, India, is described in detail on the basis of more than 350 specimens that represent almost the entire dentition and the skeleton. Cambaytherium combines plesiomorphic traits typical of archaic ungulates such as phenacodontids with derived traits characteristic of early perissodactyls. Cambaytherium was a subcursorial animal better adapted for running than phenacodontids but less specialized than early perissodactyls. The cheek teeth are bunodont with large upper molar conules, not lophodont as in early perissodactyls; like perissodactyls, however, the lower molars have twinned metaconids and m3 has an extended hypoconulid lobe. A steep wear gradient with heavy wear in the middle of the tooth row suggests an abrasive herbivorous diet. Three species of Cambaytherium are recognized: C. thewissi (∼23 kg), C. gracilis (∼10 kg), and C. marinus (∼99 kg). Body masses were estimated from tooth size and long bone dimensions. Biostratigraphic and isotopic evidence indicates an age of ca. 54.5 Ma for the Cambay Shale vertebrate fauna, the oldest Cenozoic continental vertebrate assemblage from India, near or prior to the initial collision with Asia. Cambaytheriidae (also including Nakusia and Perissobune) and Anthracobunidae are sister taxa, constituting the clade Anthracobunia, which is sister to Perissodactyla. We unite them in a new higher taxon, Perissodactylamorpha. The antiquity and occurrence of Cambaytherium—the most primitive known perissodactylamorph—in India near or before its collision with Asia suggest that Perissodactyla evolved during the Paleocene on the Indian Plate or in peripheral areas of southern or southwestern Asia.
The Ypresian Cambay Formation at Vastan Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded a rich herpet... more The Ypresian Cambay Formation at Vastan Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded a rich herpetological fauna including snakes, lizards and amphibians, but strangely, lizards are only represented by Acrodonta. Here we describe the acrodontan assemblage based on numerous, diverse and well-preserved dentaries, premaxillae, and maxillae. Among the five taxa described one new genus and species characterised by a short splenial represents the youngest occurrence of the extinct family Priscagamidae. The other four taxa belong to the extant family Agamidae. Two of them previously known, Vastanagama susanae and Tinosaurus indicus, are here revised. The two other taxa are new. The first one, Suratagama neeraae gen. and sp. nov., is characterised by the presence of six small pleurodont teeth with a nearly cylindrical shaft and an obtusely pointed apex. The second one, Indiagama gujarata gen. and sp. nov., has rectangular teeth in lateral view, unicuspid crowns forming a nearly horizontal cu...
The first assemblage of lower vertebrates comprising fish, crocodilians and snakes is recorded fr... more The first assemblage of lower vertebrates comprising fish, crocodilians and snakes is recorded from subsurface beds of the Akli Formation sampled from the Giral Lignite Mine about 40 km NNW of Barmer in Rajasthan. The fish comprise sharks, rays, lepisosteids, osteoglossids, pycnodontids and enchodontids and include among others Squatina, Ginglymostoma, Jaekelotodus, and Gymnura, which previously were not known from the subcontinent, an unnamed new species of Dasyatis, and two unidentified ?pycnodontid-like teleosteans. Reptiles are represented by crocodilians and ?boid snakes. The fauna supports a Late Palaeocene-Lower Eocene age and a coastal marine deposition under tropical-temperate conditions.
Several new fossil specimens from the Cambay Shale Formation at Tadkeshwar Lignite Mine in Gujara... more Several new fossil specimens from the Cambay Shale Formation at Tadkeshwar Lignite Mine in Gujarat document the presence of two previously unknown early Eocene primate species from India. A new species of Asiadapis is named based on a jaw fragment preserving premolars similar in morphology to those of A. cambayensis but substantially larger. Also described is an exceptionally preserved edentulous dentary (designated cf. Asiadapis, unnamed sp. nov.) that is slightly larger and much more robust than previously known Cambay Shale primates. Its anatomy most closely resembles that of Eocene adapoids, and the dental formula is the same as in A. cambayensis. A femur and calcaneus are tentatively allocated to the same taxon. Although the dentition is unknown, exquisite preservation of the dentary of cf. Asiadapis sp. nov. enables an assessment of masticatory musculature, function, and gape adaptations, as well as comparison with an equally well-preserved dentary of the asiadapid Marcgodinot...
The oldest primates of modern aspect (euprimates) appear abruptly on the Holarctic continents dur... more The oldest primates of modern aspect (euprimates) appear abruptly on the Holarctic continents during a brief episode of global warming known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, at the beginning of the Eocene (∼56 Ma). When they first appear in the fossil record, they are already divided into two distinct clades, Adapoidea (basal members of Strepsirrhini, which includes extant lemurs, lorises, and bushbabies) and Omomyidae (basal Haplorhini, which comprises living tarsiers, monkeys, and apes). Both groups have recently been discovered in the early Eocene Cambay Shale Formation of Vastan lignite mine, Gujarat, India, where they are known mainly from teeth and jaws. The Vastan fossils are dated at ∼54.5 Myr based on associated dinoflagellates and isotope stratigraphy. Here, we describe new, exquisitely preserved limb bones of these Indian primates that reveal more primitive postcranial characteristics than have been previously documented for either clade, and differences between t...
ABSTRACT The Cambay Formation at Vastan Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded the oldest ar... more ABSTRACT The Cambay Formation at Vastan Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded the oldest artiodactyls and other land mammals from India, which are dated as middle Ypresian (∼ 53 Ma) based on foraminiferids. Here we describe new dentitions, including ...
Extensively bored log-grounds with ichnospecies Teredolites longissimus and body fossils of the c... more Extensively bored log-grounds with ichnospecies Teredolites longissimus and body fossils of the causative teredinid molluscs are recorded from the Early Eocene subsurface beds of the Cambay Shale Formation at Vastan lignite Mine in western India. Three sizes of T. ...
The Ypresian Cambay Shale Formation of Vastan Lignite Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded... more The Ypresian Cambay Shale Formation of Vastan Lignite Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded a rich vertebrate fauna, including the earliest modern mammals of the Indian subcontinent. Here we describe its assemblage of four frogs, including two new genera and species, based on numerous, diverse and well−preserved ilia and vertebrae. An abundant frog, Eobarbourula delfinoi gen. and sp. nov., with a particular vertebral articulation similar to a zygosphene−zygantrum complex, represents the oldest record of the Bombinatoridae and might have been capable of displaying the Unken reflex. The large non−fossorial pelobatid Eopelobates, known from complete skeletons from the Eocene and Oligocene of Europe, is also identified at Vastan based on a single nearly complete ilium. An abundant “ranid ” and a possible rhacophorid Indorana prasadi gen. and sp. nov. represent the earliest records of both families. The Vastan pelobatids and ranids confirm an early worldwide distribution of these f...
Bajpai et al.’s recent paper (2005a) describing an important new Early Eocene mammal fauna from t... more Bajpai et al.’s recent paper (2005a) describing an important new Early Eocene mammal fauna from the Cambay Shale of Vastan Lignite Mine, Gujarat, India has a number of errors related to identification, naming, definition, characterisation and description of new taxa, and measurements of dentitions etc. that need to be recorded and addressed. This contribution discusses and clarifies some of the errors and will be useful for understanding the real impact of the Vastan fauna in relation to the India-Asia collision, the mammalian palaeobiogeography and origin of modern placental mammals.
A series of osteological characters of Taverneichthys bikanericus from the continental Paleocene ... more A series of osteological characters of Taverneichthys bikanericus from the continental Paleocene of India are studied, allowing specifying its systematic position within the Osteoglossidae. It is shown that on the basis of its peculiar snout morphology this species occupies an intermediate position between genera such as Chanopsis and Phareodus, which possess a primitive snout with a large dermethmoid reaching the frontals and separating the two nasals from each other, and such as Brychaetus, Musperia, Opsithrissops, Osteoglossum and Scleropages, which exhibit an evolved snout. The latter presents nasals, which are articulated to the frontals, meeting each other on the mid-line, except at their anterior edge, where a small dermethmoid, largely separated from the frontals, is inserted between.
ABSTRACT The anatomy of Cambaytherium, a primitive, perissodactyl-like mammal from the lower Eoce... more ABSTRACT The anatomy of Cambaytherium, a primitive, perissodactyl-like mammal from the lower Eocene Cambay Shale Formation of Gujarat, India, is described in detail on the basis of more than 350 specimens that represent almost the entire dentition and the skeleton. Cambaytherium combines plesiomorphic traits typical of archaic ungulates such as phenacodontids with derived traits characteristic of early perissodactyls. Cambaytherium was a subcursorial animal better adapted for running than phenacodontids but less specialized than early perissodactyls. The cheek teeth are bunodont with large upper molar conules, not lophodont as in early perissodactyls; like perissodactyls, however, the lower molars have twinned metaconids and m3 has an extended hypoconulid lobe. A steep wear gradient with heavy wear in the middle of the tooth row suggests an abrasive herbivorous diet. Three species of Cambaytherium are recognized: C. thewissi (∼23 kg), C. gracilis (∼10 kg), and C. marinus (∼99 kg). Body masses were estimated from tooth size and long bone dimensions. Biostratigraphic and isotopic evidence indicates an age of ca. 54.5 Ma for the Cambay Shale vertebrate fauna, the oldest Cenozoic continental vertebrate assemblage from India, near or prior to the initial collision with Asia. Cambaytheriidae (also including Nakusia and Perissobune) and Anthracobunidae are sister taxa, constituting the clade Anthracobunia, which is sister to Perissodactyla. We unite them in a new higher taxon, Perissodactylamorpha. The antiquity and occurrence of Cambaytherium—the most primitive known perissodactylamorph—in India near or before its collision with Asia suggest that Perissodactyla evolved during the Paleocene on the Indian Plate or in peripheral areas of southern or southwestern Asia.
The Ypresian Cambay Formation at Vastan Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded a rich herpet... more The Ypresian Cambay Formation at Vastan Mine in Gujarat, western India, has yielded a rich herpetological fauna including snakes, lizards and amphibians, but strangely, lizards are only represented by Acrodonta. Here we describe the acrodontan assemblage based on numerous, diverse and well-preserved dentaries, premaxillae, and maxillae. Among the five taxa described one new genus and species characterised by a short splenial represents the youngest occurrence of the extinct family Priscagamidae. The other four taxa belong to the extant family Agamidae. Two of them previously known, Vastanagama susanae and Tinosaurus indicus, are here revised. The two other taxa are new. The first one, Suratagama neeraae gen. and sp. nov., is characterised by the presence of six small pleurodont teeth with a nearly cylindrical shaft and an obtusely pointed apex. The second one, Indiagama gujarata gen. and sp. nov., has rectangular teeth in lateral view, unicuspid crowns forming a nearly horizontal cu...
The first assemblage of lower vertebrates comprising fish, crocodilians and snakes is recorded fr... more The first assemblage of lower vertebrates comprising fish, crocodilians and snakes is recorded from subsurface beds of the Akli Formation sampled from the Giral Lignite Mine about 40 km NNW of Barmer in Rajasthan. The fish comprise sharks, rays, lepisosteids, osteoglossids, pycnodontids and enchodontids and include among others Squatina, Ginglymostoma, Jaekelotodus, and Gymnura, which previously were not known from the subcontinent, an unnamed new species of Dasyatis, and two unidentified ?pycnodontid-like teleosteans. Reptiles are represented by crocodilians and ?boid snakes. The fauna supports a Late Palaeocene-Lower Eocene age and a coastal marine deposition under tropical-temperate conditions.
Several new fossil specimens from the Cambay Shale Formation at Tadkeshwar Lignite Mine in Gujara... more Several new fossil specimens from the Cambay Shale Formation at Tadkeshwar Lignite Mine in Gujarat document the presence of two previously unknown early Eocene primate species from India. A new species of Asiadapis is named based on a jaw fragment preserving premolars similar in morphology to those of A. cambayensis but substantially larger. Also described is an exceptionally preserved edentulous dentary (designated cf. Asiadapis, unnamed sp. nov.) that is slightly larger and much more robust than previously known Cambay Shale primates. Its anatomy most closely resembles that of Eocene adapoids, and the dental formula is the same as in A. cambayensis. A femur and calcaneus are tentatively allocated to the same taxon. Although the dentition is unknown, exquisite preservation of the dentary of cf. Asiadapis sp. nov. enables an assessment of masticatory musculature, function, and gape adaptations, as well as comparison with an equally well-preserved dentary of the asiadapid Marcgodinot...
The oldest primates of modern aspect (euprimates) appear abruptly on the Holarctic continents dur... more The oldest primates of modern aspect (euprimates) appear abruptly on the Holarctic continents during a brief episode of global warming known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, at the beginning of the Eocene (∼56 Ma). When they first appear in the fossil record, they are already divided into two distinct clades, Adapoidea (basal members of Strepsirrhini, which includes extant lemurs, lorises, and bushbabies) and Omomyidae (basal Haplorhini, which comprises living tarsiers, monkeys, and apes). Both groups have recently been discovered in the early Eocene Cambay Shale Formation of Vastan lignite mine, Gujarat, India, where they are known mainly from teeth and jaws. The Vastan fossils are dated at ∼54.5 Myr based on associated dinoflagellates and isotope stratigraphy. Here, we describe new, exquisitely preserved limb bones of these Indian primates that reveal more primitive postcranial characteristics than have been previously documented for either clade, and differences between t...
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Papers by Kishor Kumar