Guntupalli V R Prasad

University of Delhi | DU · Department of Geology

The Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Lameta Formation is well-known for its osteological and oological remains of sauropods from the eastern and western parts of the Narmada Valley, central India. The newly documented ninety-two titanosaur clutches from Dhar District (Madhya Pradesh State, central India) add further to this extensive data. Previous...

Paleontological investigations in the Late Cretaceous sedimentary units associated with Deccan traps of the lower Narmada valley, western Central India were carried out in order to ascertain ostracod diversity and its biostratigraphic and paleoecological implications. Eighteen species of twelve genera of Cytheroidea, Darwinuloidea and Cypridoidea o...

The mechanism of protein degradation has remained a topic of debate (specifically concerning their preservation in deep time), which has recently been invigorated due to multiple published reports of preservation ranging from Miocene to the Triassic that potentially challenge the convention that protein preservation beyond the Cenozoic is extremely...

The calcitic eggshell units of amniote eggs are underlain by a soft organic layer, the Membrana Testacea (MT), which has a mesh-like texture consisting of fibrils of organic material. Because of its soft anatomy, the MT is rarely preserved in fossils and only a few fossil reports of MT are known so far. Here we report the preservation of a minerali...

India underwent a significant length of northward journey after its break-up from the contiguous landmasses of Gondwana and remained for a large part of the time, particularly during the Cretaceous Period, physically isolated from other landmasses. The consequences of a long period of isolation for constituent biological communities are evaluated i...

Pathologic eggs have been documented in the amniote eggs of birds, turtles, and dinosaurs. These eggs occur either in the form of one egg within another egg, a condition known as ovum-in-ovo or multi-shelled eggs showing additional pathological eggshell layer/s besides the primary shell layer. Though multi-shelled eggs and eggshells were previously...

In the present study, fifteen ichnospecies, namely, Beaconites coronus, Helminthoidichnites tenuis, Helminthopsis tenuis, Palaeophycus annulatus, Palaeophycus sulcatus, Palaeophycus tubularis, Planolites beverleyensis, Planolites montanus, Scoyenia gracilis, Spongeliomorpha iberica, Taenidium barrette, Taenidium cameronensis, Taenidium satanassi, T...

Prasad GVR, Verma O, Sahni A & Khosla A 2021. Cretaceous mammals of India-Stratigraphic distribution, diversity and intercontinental affinities. Journal of Palaeosciences 70(2021): 173-192. Extensive research carried out on the Cretaceous deposits of Laurasia has revealed an overwhelming presence of eutherian, metatherian and multituberculate group...

The documentation of proteinaceous soft tissues in fossils from deep time remains controversial. Often this has been attributed to the laboratory or other modes of modern contamination. Here we provide incontrovertible evidence for the preservation of proteinaceous moieties in Maastrichtian dinosaur eggshell using pyrolysis‐GC×GC‐TOFMS. The presenc...

Two new non-marine ostracod species, named Gomphocythere testudo sp. nov. and Candona phaseolus sp. nov. are described from the intertrappean beds exposed near Gujri village in District Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, Central India along with common Deccan intertrappean ostracod species Cyclocypris sahnii, Cypria cyrtonidion, Paracypretta jonesi, Periosocypr...

The paleogeographic history of the Indian sub-continent is unique among Earth's landmasses. From being part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana for most of the Mesozoic, through a period of isolation as a drifting entity in the Late Cretaceous, to colliding with Asia near the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, the Indian subcontinent has been associate...

The Maastrichtian intertrappean beds of Kisalpuri and Kelapur, India, have yielded new amphibian and squamate reptile fossils that increase our knowledge of these groups. In addition to focusing on these two localities, we review the faunas of amphibians and squamates from other Maastrichtian intertrappean beds. In the Maastrichtian sites of India,...

The Middle Jurassic Kota Formation of the Pranhita-Godavari Valley in peninsular India is well known for its vertebrate fauna comprising fishes, sphenodontians, iguanian lizards, cryptodire turtle, crocodilians, pterosaurs, sauropod dinosaurs and early mammals. However, no theropod and undoubted ornithischian dinosaur remains have been reported fro...

We report here Pelomedusoides turtle remains found in the Late Cretaceous deposits of peninsular India. Previously reported from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) strata such as the intertrappean beds of Bombay and Kachchh (western India), Raibasa and Kisalpuri (central India), infratrappean Lameta Formation (Pisdura) (central India) and the Kal...

The Indian plate has a long history of rifting, drifting and collision. It travelled for about 9000 km from its position within Gondwana to reach its present position within Asia. During its northward journey, the Indian landmass remained physically isolated for about 35 Ma from all other landmasses after its final break-up from Madagascar. A criti...

The paper discusses important changes in faunal and floral diversity during the Phanerozoic Eon. These are represented by the ‘big five’ mass extinctions, viz. end-Ordovician, Frasnian-Famennian boundary of the Devonian Period, Permian-Triassic boundary, Triassic-Jurassic boundary, and the Cretaceous-Palaeogene boundary. Major biological and geolog...

The Indus Tsangpo Suture Zone representing the zone of collision between Greater India and Asian mainland comprises a variety of rock sequences, among which, the youngest sedimentary succession, the Indus Group, represents the first continental sedimentation in the India–Asia collision zone, the age of which, has been a subject of debate since long...

Coprolites are traditionally analyzed from a morphological perspective. Few studies exist from an organic geochemical perspective, and most of these consider recent specimens. This study represents an analysis of coprolites from deep time, using both traditional one-dimensional and also two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We find...

In the past, fossilised dinosaur eggshells have been extensively documented from the Upper Cretaceous Lameta Formation of Central India and as many as nine oospecies are known at present from this formation. Compared to this, only one dinosaur oospecies has been described from the Cretaceous succession of the Cauvery Basin. However, the first fossi...

The freshwater Siwalik deposits of the Himalayan foreland basin have long been known to yield prolific Miocene-Pleistocene mammalian fauna. Overwhelming of this data comes from the Siwalik sequence of Pakistan, where good palaeomagnetic control is available for various Siwalik lithounits. In contrast limited data on fossil mammals, more so on small...

An articulated and partially preserved skeleton of an ichthyosaur was found in the Upper Jurassic (Upper Kimmeridgian) Katrol Formation exposed at a site south of the village Lodai in Kachchh district, Gujarat (western India). Here we present a detailed description and inferred taxonomic relationship of the specimen. The present study revealed that...

In India, Cretaceous elasmobranchs are known from the uppermost Cretaceous Deccan intertrappean sedimentary sequences of peninsular India and the lower Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Karai Formation of the Cauvery basin, South India. The intertrappean elasmobranchs are represented mainly by rays and skates, whereas the Karai fauna is known by hexanc...

Based on well-preserved lower dentition, a new adapisoriculid from the Cambay Shale Formation (basal Eocene, ∼54.5 Ma) in the open cast lignite mine of Vastan, Gujarat State, western India, is described. Indolestes kalamensis gen. et sp. nov adds significantly to the diversity of basal eutherians from Vastan as it represents a family hitherto not k...

The modern-day fauna of the Indian subcontinent is a mixture of ancestral Gondwanan clades, Laurasian immigrants, and endemic radiations as a result of its complex geological history. During the latest Cretaceous, the Indian subcontinent has been reconstructed at peak isolation from other continents, having separated last from Madagascar approximat...

A new fossiliferous intertrappean section is found 92 km southwest of the extensively studied intertrappean beds of Mohgaonkalan and Jhilmili in Chhindwara District, Central India. Application of the bulk screen-washing method led to the recovery of a rich microvertebrate fauna represented by fish, amphibians, crocodiles, snakes and dinosaurs. In t...

Substantial new information is presented on upper Artinskian–Kungurian deposits in Timor-Leste and in the Canning, Southern Carnarvon and northern Perth basins of Western Australia. These basins, situated between about 35°S and 55°S palaeolatitude, formed part of the East Gondwana interior rift, a precursor to the rift that 100 my later formed the...

The paper records the occurrence of 12 non-marine ostracod species belonging to nine genera from a new intertrappean section located at Khar in Madhya Pradesh, Central India. These are - Frambocythere tumiensis anjarensis, Gomphocythere akalypton, G. paucisulcatus, G. strangulata, Paracypretta jonesi, Stenocypris cylindrica, Zonocypris gujaratensis...

Recent field prospecting in the Cretaceous sequences of the lower Narmada valley has led to the discovery of three isolated archosaur teeth from the upper part of marine Cretaceous rocks of the Bagh Group. The specimens were recovered by surface prospecting from an oyster-bearing green sandstone bed occurring at the top of the Coralline Limestone (...

We report a new occurrence of the phyllodontid teleost fish Egertonia from the Late Cretaceous Kallamedu Formation of the Cauvery Basin, South India. This is the oldest occurrence of Phyllodontidae in India, and only the second Cretaceous Gondwanan occurrence of this genus, following a toothplate previously described from the Late Cretaceous Maevar...

Chelonian and crocodilian eggs and eggshells are relatively rare in the fossil record as com-pared to those of dinosaurs and avians. In India, prior to the present report, turtle eggshellshave been reported from the supposed Late Cretaceous infratrappean beds of Duddukuru,Andhra Pradesh. Likewise, crocodilian eggshells were described from the inter...

We describe the cricetid rodents represented by Megacricetodon daamsi, Megacricetodon sivalensis, and Myocricetodon sivalensis, recovered from two localities, Dehari and Jhajjar Kotli, lying in the upper part of the Lower Siwalik Subgroup of Jammu Province. The cricetid fauna is similar to that reported from the Pakistan Siwaliks. Based on the spec...

During the last two decades, extensive paleontological research in the main Deccan volcanic province has led to a better understanding of biodiversity close to the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Several infratrappean localities exposed in Jabalpur, Kheda, Balasinor, Rahioli, Dohad, and Bagh in the Narmada Valley (India) preserve one of the most geo...

The relationships and ecology of Deccanolestes, a eutherian mammal from the Late Cretaceous of India that is known only from isolated dental, mandibular, and postcranial elements, have been a topic of considerable interest and debate. A recent comprehensive phylogenetic analysis has placed this taxon within Adapisoriculidae, a clade of otherwise Pa...

Late Cretaceous vertebrate faunas of India are known predominantly from intertrappean deposits in the Deccan volcanic province of the central and western parts of the country. A thick and nearly continuous sequence of Early Cretaceous–Early Paleocene fossiliferous sediments exposed in the Cauvery Basin of South India has been comparatively poorly e...

Prospecting for microvertebrate and associated microfossils by employing bulk screen-washing techniques in the basal part of the Indus Molasse immediately overlying the Ladakh Granite led to the delineation of at least five fossiliferous sections in the central part of the Indus Suture Zone near Taruche and Saspochey villages in Leh district and tw...

Mesozoic deposits of the former Gondwanaland are depauperate in early mammals, in general, and multituberculate mammals, in particular. Until now, the oldest multituberculate mammals known from the Gondwanan continents come from the Early Cretaceous of Morocco, NW Africa. Here, we report the presence of a new multituberculate mammal, Indobaatar zof...

Troodontid dinosaurs share a close ancestry with birds and were distributed widely across Laurasia during the Cretaceous. Hundreds of occurrences of troodontid bones, and their highly distinctive teeth, are known from North America, Europe and Asia. Thus far, however, they remain unknown from Gondwanan landmasses. Here we report the discovery of a...

Gondwanatheria is a poorly-known extinct order of the class Mammalia. It represents an enigmatic and distinctive non-tribosphenic radiation of mammals in the Southern Hemisphere with fossils documented from the Late Cretaceous and early Middle Eocene of Argentina, Late Cretaceous of Madagascar and India, ?Cretaceous of Tanzania and ?Middle Eocene o...

The Deccan Traps of peninsular India, representing one of the largest flood basalt eruptions on the earth's surface, have been a subject of intensive research in the last three decades because of the attributed link between the Deccan Traps and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary mass extinctions. In this context, the biota from the sedimentary beds i...

ABSTRACT Gondwanatheria is a poorly-known extinct order of the class Mammalia. It represents an enigmatic and distinctive non-tribosphenic radiation of mammals in the Southern Hemisphere with fossils documented from the Late Cretaceous and early Middle Eocene of Argentina, Late Cretaceous of Madagascar and India, ?Cretaceous of Tanzania and ?Middle...

In the present write up, a synthesis of the research done in the last four years in vertebrate palaeontology, palynology, ammonoid biostratigraphy and stable isotope geochemistry is presented. SB and GVR discuss the issues relating to Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) boundary bioevents in India and their linkage to Deccan volcanism, Jurassic and Cretac...

Prospecting for microvertebrates in the Lower Siwalik Subgroup of the Ramnagar area of Jammu province led to the delineation of three piscean producing sites at Dehari, Nambel and Basi. These sites have yielded several isolated dental remains and pectoral and dorsal spines of fishes represented by Cyprinidae, Siluridae, Claridae, Bagridae and Chann...

Although a very high invertebrate faunal diversity is known from the outcrops of the Ariyalur group in the Cauvery Basin, southern India, little is known about its vertebrate fauna. Recent fieldwork in the badland exposures of the Karai Formation (Upper Cenomanian–Lower Turonian) near Garudamangalam in the basin has yielded two teeth belonging to t...

India's Late Cretaceous fossil mammals include the only undisputed pre-Tertiary Gondwanan eutherians, such as Deccanolestes. Recent studies have suggested a relationship between Deccanolestes and African and European Paleocene adapisoriculids, which have been variably identified as stem euarchontans, stem primates, lipotyphlan insectivores, or afro...

Vertebrate fossils have been known from South India's Cauvery Basin since the 1840s, but records of marine vertebrates from the late Albian to Turonian Karai Formation have been limited to a single set of ichthyosaur remains. Recent surface collecting and sieving of lower Cenomanian glauconitic mudstones has yielded the first ichthyosaur material r...

The Late Cretaceous record of mammals from India assumes great significance in view of the fact that it is the only Gondwanan landmass that has yielded definitive eutherian mammals. Thesemammalshave variously been assigned to palaeoryctids, archontans or Eutheria incertae sedis. Well preserved lower molars recovered from a new mammal-yielding Decca...

![Figure][1] Deccan plateau basalts. Lava from Deccan volcanism formed distinct layering. CREDIT: GSFC/NASA In the Review “The Chicxulub Asteroid Impact and Mass Extinction at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary” (P. Schulte et al. , 5 March, p. [1214][2]), the terminal Cretaceous

IN THE REVIEW "THE CHICXULUB ASTEROID IMPACT AND MASS EXTINCTION AT THE CRETACEOUS-Paleogene boundary" (P. Schulte et al., 5 March, p. 1214), the terminal Cretaceous extinctions were confi dently attributed to a single event, the environmental consequences of the impact of an extraterrestrial body. The list of 41 authors, although suggesting a cons...

Extant species of the supraordinal mammal clade Euarchonta belong to the orders Primates, Scandentia, or Dermoptera. The fossil record of euarchontans suggests that they underwent their initial radiation during the Paleocene (65-55 million years ago) in North America, Eurasia, and Africa. The time and place of origin is poorly resolved due to lack...

This paper presents a brief review of recent advances in the classification of mammals at higher levels using fossils and molecular clocks. It also discusses latest fossil discoveries from the Cretaceous - Eocene (66-55 m.y.) rocks of India and their relevance to our current understanding of placental mammal origins and diversifications.

Geophysical data suggested a minimum of 35 Ma physical isolation for the Indian plate from the time of its separation from Madagascar around 88 Ma ago to its final collision with Asia in the Early-Middle Eocene (55-50 Ma ago). Such an extended period of segregation of any landmass is expected to result in genetic isolation of pre-existing populatio...

Vijaya, Prasad, G.V.R. & Singh, K., June, 2009. Late Triassic palynoflora from the Pranhita–Godavari Valley, India: evidence from vertebrate coprolites. Alcheringa 33, 91–111. ISSN 0311-5518.The Upper Triassic Maleri Formation, represented by red clays and sandstones, has to date not produced any plant macrofossils or palynomorphs. Many spiral and...