Vertebrate fauna from the Late Triassic Tiki Formation of India: new finds and their biostratigraphic implications
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2016.298Keywords:
Biostratigraphy, Carnian, Late Triassic, Tiki Formation, VertebrateAbstract
Recent work on the Tiki Formation has resulted in the collection of new and varied vertebrate micro–and megafossils, including a new bonebed containing low diversity, mono–dominant, multitaxic vertebrate accumulation where the rhynchosaur, Hyperodapedon tikiensis constitute the dominant component. This bonebed has also yielded a large traversodontid cynodont Ruberodon roychowdhurii. In addition, there are several diagnostic postcrania such as vertebrae and incomplete limb bones belonging to a basal saurischian dinosaur. Systematic exploration and collection has yielded numerous isolated teeth and postcrania of small vertebrates such as different types of freshwater sharks, bony fishes, archosauriforms, lepidosauromorphs, cynodonts and other reptiles. Based on its fossil flora and fauna, the Tiki Formation is globally correlated with other coeval horizons such as the lower member of the Maleri Formation of the Pranhita–Godavari basin, the upper part of the Santa Maria Formation of Brazil, the Camp Springs and lower Tecovas formations of the Chinle Group, USA. A Carnian (Otischalkian to early Adamanian) age is proposed for the Tiki Formation.
Downloads
Metrics
References
Ahmed F & Ray S 2010. Paleoclimate of Upper Triassic India: New observations from Rewa Gondwana basin. In: Goldschmidt Conference Abstracts 2010, Geochemica et cosmochemica Acta A36.
Bandyopadhyay S 1999. Gondwana vertebrate faunas of India. Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy 65: 285–313.
Bandyopadhyay S 2011. Non–marine Triassic vertebrates of India. In: Calvo JO, Porfiri J, Gonzalez B & Santos DD (Editors)—Paleontologíay Dinosaurios desde América Latina, EDIUNC, Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina: 33–46.
Bandyopadhyay S & Sengupta DP 2006. Vertebrate faunal turnover during the Triassic–Jurassic transition: an Indian scenario. In: Harris JD, Lucas SG, Spielmann JA, Lockley MG, Milner ARC & Kirkland JI (Editors)—The Triassic–Jurassic Terrestrial Transition, Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science 37: 77–85.
Benton MJ 1983. The Triassic reptile Hyperodapedon from Elgin: functional morphology and relationships. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B302: 605–717.
Cappetta H 2012. Chondrichthyes: Mesozoic and Cenozoic Elasmobranchii: Teeth; In: Schultze H–P (Editor)—Handbook of Paleoichthyology 3E, Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich, 512 p.
Chatterjee S 1978. A primitive parasuchid (phytosaur) reptile from the Upper Triassic Maleri Formation of India. Palaeontology 21: 83–127.
Chatterjee S 1987. A new theropod dinosaur from India with remarks on the Gondwana–Laurasia connection in the Late Triassic; In: Mckenzie GD (Editor)—Gondwana Six: Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology, Geophysical Monograph 41: 183–189. American Geophysical Union, USA.
Chatterjee S & Majumdar PK 1987. Tikisuchus romeri, a new rauisuchid reptile from the Late Triassic of India. Journal of Paleontology 61: 787–793.
Datta PM 2004. A suggestion for an early Tuvalian time segment for the Tiki Formation, South Rewa Gondwana basin, India and other correlatable continental sequences. Albertina 30 (suppl): 6–7.
Datta PM 2005. Earliest mammal with transversely expanded upper molar from the Late Triassic (Carnian) Tiki Formation, South Rewa Gondwana basin, India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25: 200–207.
Datta PM & Das DP 1996. Discovery of the oldest mammal from India. Indian Minerals 50: 217–222.
Datta PM & Ray S 2006. Earliest lizard from the Late Triassic (Carnian) of India. Journal Vertebrate Paleontology 26: 795─800.
Datta PM, Das DP & Luo ZX 2004. A Late Triassic dromatheriid (Synapsida: Cynodontia) from India. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 73: 72–84.
Edmund G 1960. Tooth replacement in the lower vertebrates. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto Contribution 52: 1–190.
Flynn JJ, Parrish JM, Rakotosamimanana B, Ranivoharimanana L, Simpson WF & Wyss WS 2000. New traversodontids (Synapsida: Eucynodontia) from the Triassic of Madagascar. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20: 422–427.
Godefroit P & Cuny G 1997. Archosauriform teeth from the Upper Triassic of Saint–Nicolas–de–Port. Palaeovertebrata 26: 1–34.
Gradstein FM, Ogg JG, Schmitz MD & Ogg GM 2012. The Geologic Time Scale 2012. Elsevier UK, 1144 p.
Heckert AB 2004. Late Triassic microvertebrates from the Upper Triassic Chinle Group (Otischalkian–Adamanian: Carnian), southwestern U.S.A. Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science 27: 1–170.
Heckert AB & Lucas SG 2006. Micro–and small vertebrate biostratigraphy and biochronology of the Upper Triassic Chinle Group, Southwestern USA. In: Harris JD, Lucas SG & Spielmann JA (Editors)—The Triassic–Jurassic Terrestrial Transition, Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science 37: 94–104.
Hungerbühler A, Kutty TS & Chatterjee S 2002. New phytosaurs from the Upper Triassic of India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 22: 68A.
Irmis RB, Parker WG, Nesbitt SJ & Liu J 2007. Early ornithischian dinosaurs: the Triassic record. Historical Biology 19: 3–22.
Jain SL 1980. Freshwater xenacanthid (=Pleuracanth) shark fossils from the upper triassic Maleri Formation, India. Journal of the Geological Society of India 21: 39–47.
Jain SL, Robinson PL & RoyChowdhury TK 1964. A new vertebrate fauna from the Triassic of the Deccan. Quarternary Journal of the Geological Society of London 120: 115–124.
Kammerer CF, Butler RJ, Bandyopadhyay S & Stocker MR 2015. Relationships of the Indian phytosaur Parasuchus hislopi Lydekker 1885. Papers in Palaeontology DOI: 1002/spp2.1022.
Kutty TS & Sengupta DP 1989. The Late Triassic formations of the Pranhita–Godavari valley and their vertebrate succession–a reappraisal. Indian Journal of Earth Sciences 16: 189–206.
Langer MC 2005. Studies on continental Late Triassic tetrapod biochronology. II. The Ischigualastian and a Carnian global correlation. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 19: 219–239.
Lucas SG 1998. Global Triassic tertapod biostratigraphy and biochronology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 143: 347–384.
Lucas SG & Heckert AB 2000. Biochronological significance of Triassic nonmarine tetrapod records from marine strata. Albertiana 24: 29–36.
Lucas SG & Heckert AB 2002. The Hyperodapedon biochron, Late Triassic of Pangea. Albertiana 27: 30–38.
Lucas SG, Heckert AB & Hotton N III 2002. The rhynchosaur Hyperodapedon from the Upper Triassic of Wyoming and its global biochronological significance. Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science 21: 149–156.
Lucas SG, Hunt AP, Heckert AB & Spielmann JA 2007. Global Triassic tetrapod biostratigraphy and biochronology: 2007status; In: Lucas SG & Spielmann JA (Editors)—The Global Triassic, Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science 41: 85–102.
Maheshwari HK & Kumaran KPN 1979. Upper Triassic Sporae Dispersae from the Tiki Formation 1: Miospores from the Son River Section between Tharipathar and Ghiar, South Rewa Gondwana Basin. Palaeontographica Abt. B 171: 137–164.
Mukherjee D 2015. New insights from bone microanatomy of the Late Triassic Hyperodapedon (Archosauromorpha; Rhynchosauria): implications for archosauromorph growth strategy. Palaeontology 58: 313–339.
Mukherjee D & Ray S 2012. Taphonomy of an Upper Triassic vertebrate bonebed: A new rhynchosaur (Reptilia; Archosauromorpha) accumulation from India. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 333–334: 75–91.
Mukherjee D & Ray S 2014. A new Hyperodapedon (Archosauromorpha, Rhynchosauria) from the Upper Triassic of India: implications for rhynchosaur phylogeny. Palaeontology 57: 1241–1276.
Mukherjee D, Ray S, Chandra S, Pal S & Bandyopadhyay S 2012. Upper Gondwana succession of the Rewa basin, India: understanding the interrelationship of lithologic and stratigraphic variables India. Journal of the Geological Society of India 79: 563–575.
Murry PA 1981. A new species of freshwater hybodont from the Dockum Group (Triassic) of Texas. Journal of Paleontology 55: 603–607.
Prasad GVR, Singh KPV, Goswami A & Sudan SC 2008. Hybodont shark teeth from continental Upper Triassic deposits of India. In: Arratia G, Schultze H–P & Wilson MVH (Editors)–Mesozoic Fishes 4: Homology and Phylogeny: 413–432. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Germany.
Ray S 2015. A new traversodontid cynodont from the Late Triassic of India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 35: 3, e930472, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2014.930472.
Sahni MR 1955. Recent researches in the Paleontology Division, Geological Survey of India. Current Science 24: 187–188.
Sankey JT 2008. Vertebrate Paleoecology from microsites, Talley Mountain, Upper Aguja Formation (Late Cretaceous), Big Bend National Park, Texas. In: Sankey JT & Baszio S (Editors)–Vertebrate Microfossil Assemblages: Their Role in Paleoecology and Paleobiogeography: 61–77. Indiana University Press, USA.
Sengupta DP 2002. Indian metoposaurid amphibians revised. Paleontological Research 6: 41–65.
Tanner EH, Spielmann JA & Lucas SG 2013. The Triassic System: New Developments in Stratigraphy and Paleontology. Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science 61: 612p.
Zaher H & Rieppel O 1999. Tooth implantation and replacement in squamates, with special reference to mosasaurs, lizards and snakes. American Museum Novitates 3271: 1–19.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
![Creative Commons License](http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/88x31.png)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.