Eocene lchthyofauna from the Subathu Formation, Northwestern Himalaya India.

Abstract

A diverse assemblage of fish consisting of 8 genera and 10 species of selachians (sharks), 4 genera and 5 species ofbatois (rays and skates) including Subathunura casieri gen. et sp. novo and Dasyatis rafinesquei sp. nov., 1 genus and 3 species of holosteans including Pycnodus bicrestasp. nov., and 4 genera and 4 species of teleosteansincluding Kankatodus cappettai gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Type Subathu Formation, Subathu, Solan District, Himachal Pradesh and from its lateral extensions at Dharampur (Solan) and Kalakot, Rajauri (Ypresian) which is considered as an equivalent of Mathur's (1978) Zone III C and Singh et at. 's (1978) Cleistosphaeridium Palyno Zone. This horizon has also yielded the remains of marine mammals. At Kalakot and Subathu, fish have been found in marine beds (Y presian) as well as in continental red beds (Lutetian), associated with mammals and pristichampsinecrocodiles. beds of peninsular India and a few taxa including dasyatids, pycnodonts and tetraodonts are common to Himalayan and peninsular regions. The Subathu Ichthyofauna \s very similar to that known from the Thanetian beds of Niger and from Palaeocene-Eocene beds of northern Africa.