Middle Eocene (Bartonian) vertebrate fauna from Bandah Formation, Jaisalmer Basin, Rajasthan, Western India

Abstract

A small vertebrate faunal assemblage of late Middle Eocene (Bartonian) age is described from the Bandah Formation, a shallow marine deposit in the Jaisalmer Basin of Rajasthan state, Western India. The Bandah assemblage comprises representatives of selachians (sharks, rays), crocodilians, turtles and archaeocete cetaceans (archaic whales). The mammalian component of this fauna, though represented by fragmentary specimens, allows identification of two archaeocete taxa for the first time from the Palaeogene of Rajasthan: an unnamed protocetid close to Babiacetus and an andrewsiphiine remingtonocetid (Kutchicetus sp.). Occurrence of Eocene cetaceans in the Jaisalmer Basin brings to light a new, potentially rich cetacean-yielding horizon in India, and has the potential to allow a better understanding of early whale evolution in the Indian subcontinent. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.