Discovery of a micromammal-yielding Deccan intertrappean site near Kisalpuri, Dindori District, Madhya Pradesh

Abstract

An intertrappean section exposed along the right bank of Kharmer river near Kisalpuri village (Dindori District) in Madhya Pradesh has yielded a rich microvertebrate assemblage. This assemblage consists of fishes: Igdabatis indicus, Lepisosteus cf. L. indicus, Pycnodontiformes, Osteoglossiformes, Siluriformes; anurans: ?Leptodactylidae gen. et sp. indet.; squamates: indeterminate lizards, Serpentes indet., Bothremydidae group of chelonians, neosuchian crocodiles, sauropod, ornithoid, and theropod dinosaur egg-shell fragments and an eutherian mammal. This is one among the few mammal-yielding Late Cretaceous sites reported so far from India. Preliminary study of a single mammalian lower molar indicates a close affinity to the Laurasian boreosphenidan eutherians.