Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) ostracodes from the Lameta Formation, Jabalpur Cantonment area, Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract

Simla Hill, Jabalpur Cantonment, Madhya Pradesh, India. The assemblage comprising several thousand specimens includes several gigantic individuals measuring up to 4.1 mm in size. The present assemblage is rich and taxonomically diverse comprising 10 genera and 15 species including one indeterminable form. In terms of diversity, the subfamily Cypridinae (Family Cyprididae) is dominant, represented as it is by 4 genera and 6 species (Altanicypris bhatiai n. sp., Eucypris cf. E. bajshintsavica, Mongolianella palmosa, Mongolianella khamar miens is, Mongolianella sp., and Mongolocypris cf. M. gigantea,). The subfamily Cypridopsinae (Family Cyprididae) is represented by ?Cypridopsis bugintsavicus and ? Cypridopsis sp. The Family Candonidae is represented by 3 species Candona altanulaensis, Candona (Candona) cf. C. (C). hiibeiensis and Paracandona jabalpurensis. The subfamily Cyclocypridinae (Family Candonidae) is represented by single species Cydocypris transitoria. The Family Cyprideidae is represented by Cypridea (Pseudocypridina) sp. The Family Darwinulidae is represented by Darwinula sp. 1 and 2 indet. This ostracode assemblage exhibits considerable resemblance to other infratrappean assemblages of the Nand, Dhamni-Pavna sections (Maharashtra) and other intertrappean assemblages of Nagpur in central India, Mamoni in Rajasthan, Asifabad in Andhra Pradesh and Gurmatkal in south India. On the whole, the Jabalpur assemblage has distinct Mongolian and Chinese affinities (even down to species level). Important taxa include (Altanicypris- Cypridea- Candona- Cypridopsis- Darwinula- Mongolianella) which are characteristic of the non-marine, uppermost Cretaceous of Mongolia and China.