Article: Late Cretaceous selachians from India and the age of the Deccan Traps

Thin sedimentary sequences associated with the Deccan Traps (infra- and intertrappean) of peninsular India have previously been dated as ranging in age from Late Cretaceous to Early Oligocene. Systematic work carried out in recent years on the fauna and flora of these sedimentary beds has led to the discovery of many previously unknown microvertebrate, invertebrate, and plant remains. The present paper deals with the systematics and stratigraphical significance of batoid fish remains from Asifabad and Marepalli, Andhra Pradesh state, India. The selachian fauna of these localities, represented by isolated teeth and dermal denticles, is identified with the genera Raja, Rhombodus, and Igdabatis. All the dental remains referred in earlier works to Dasyatis and Rhinoptera are now identified as lateral teeth of Igdabatis. The study reveals the presence of two new species: Raja sudhakari sp. nov. and Igdabatis indicus sp. nov. obtained from the infratrappean and intertrappean beds of Marepalli and Asifabad respectively. The new palaeontological data support a Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, age for the infra- and intertrappean beds of peninsular India.