The identity of the non-marine ostracod Cypris subglobosa Sowerby from the intertrappean deposits of Peninsular India

Abstract

During an investigation of type collections in The Natural History Museum, London, made in India during the nineteenth century, the syntypes of Cypris subglobosa Sowerby have been re-discovered. This species is shown to belong to the genus Paracypretta and to be confined to the Upper Cretaceous, and possibly Palaeocene, non-marine intertrappean deposits of the Indian Deccan Volcanic Province. The numerous and widespread Recent and Quaternary records of this taxon are of a separate species that belongs to the genus Cypris. The examination of comparative material from a number of localities in India reveals the presence of two other contemporary species of Paracypretta, P. jonesi Bhatia and Rana and P. elizabethae sp. nov., which is formally described herein.