An Oligo-Miocene cricetid rodent from the Indus Group, NW Himalaya: Constraints on the age of initiation of continental sedimentation in the India–Asia collision zone

Abstract

The Indus Tsangpo Suture Zone representing the zone of collision between Greater India and Asian mainland comprises a variety of rock sequences, among which, the youngest sedimentary succession, the Indus Group, represents the first continental sedimentation in the India–Asia collision zone, the age of which, has been a subject of debate since long. Here we report a cricetid rodent from the basal part of the Indus Group exposed in the Indus Suture Zone near Taruche village, Leh district, Ladakh Himalaya, India. The newly recovered rodent tooth shows a combination of archaic cricetid traits and possesses a mesolophid concurrently with protolophid II. Based on the dental grade of evolution of the new tooth, an Oligo-Miocene age is assigned to the basal part of the Indus Group.