The Miocene fossil lizards from Kutch (Gujarat), India: A rare window to the past diversity of this subcontinent

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dc.contributor.author?er?ansk�, Andrej
dc.contributor.authorSingh, Ningthoujam Premjit
dc.contributor.authorPatnaik, Rajeev
dc.contributor.authorSharma, K. Milankumar
dc.contributor.authorTiwari, Raghavendra Prasad
dc.contributor.authorSehgal, Ramesh Kumar
dc.contributor.authorSingh, Nongmaithem Amardas
dc.contributor.authorChoudhary, Deepak
dc.date.accessioned2024-01-21T10:52:28Z
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-14T06:49:08Z
dc.date.available2024-01-21T10:52:28Z
dc.date.available2024-08-14T06:49:08Z
dc.date.issued2021-09-06T00:00:00
dc.description.abstractThe Miocene beds of Kutch in India are well known for their mammalian assemblages, including the extinct ape Sivapithecus, but far less is known about the fossil squamates from this area. Although India with its over 800 reptile species is recognized as one of the global biodiversity hotspots, knowledge of past diversity and paleobiogeography of squamates on this subcontinent is very limited. We here report on new lizard finds, which have been recovered from two stratigraphic levels: the older Palasava locality (dated to the middle Miocene, ca. 14 Ma) and the younger Tapar site (late Miocene, ca. 11-10 Ma). Although fragmentarily preserved, the material described here sheds important light on the composition and paleobiogeography of squamates during the Miocene in South Asia. The older Palasava locality contains cf. Uromastyx s.l. and Varanus sp., the latter representing the oldest record of this taxon in the region of India south of the Himalayas and its occurrence here suggests a mean annual temperature not less than 15�C. The material from the younger Tapar locality consists of an unidentified acrodontan lizard, here questionably placed in agamids, and a skink. The latter shows a resemblance to mabuyines, however, the fragmentary nature of the material does not allow a precise allocation without doubts. The cosmopolitan mabuyines have been suggested to have their origin in Asia, so the potential presence of mabuyines in the Tapar locality might represent the first, but putative, Asian evidence of the occurrence of this group in the Miocene. Copyright � The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Paleontological Society.en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1017/jpa.2021.85
dc.identifier.issn223360
dc.identifier.urihttp://10.2.3.109/handle/32116/4123
dc.identifier.urlhttps://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022336021000858/type/journal_article
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherCambridge University Pressen_US
dc.subjectGujaraten_US
dc.subjectIndiaen_US
dc.subjectKutchen_US
dc.subjectfossil recorden_US
dc.subjectlizarden_US
dc.subjectMioceneen_US
dc.subjectpaleoecologyen_US
dc.subjectpaleoenvironmenten_US
dc.titleThe Miocene fossil lizards from Kutch (Gujarat), India: A rare window to the past diversity of this subcontinenten_US
dc.title.journalJournal of Paleontologyen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.type.accesstypeOpen Accessen_US

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