Earliest cenozoic frogs from the Indian subcontinent: implications for out-of-India hypothesis

Abstract

This paper describes the earliest Cenozoic anurans from the Indian subcontinent, recovered from the early Eocene Cambay Shale deposits (-53.5 Ma) of the Vastan Lignite Mine, Gujarat, western India. The fauna comprises representatives of three distinct groups with Laurasian (Discoglossidae) and Gondwanan (Ranoidea and Leptodactylidae) affinities. The ranoids, previously recorded from the terminal Cretaceous of peninsular India, are particularly significant as they support an Out-of-India dispersal.