Anuran Lissamphibian and Squamate Reptiles from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Deccan Intertrappean Sites in Central India, with a Review of Lissamphibian and Squamate Diversity in the Northward Drifting Indian Plate

Abstract

The Maastrichtian intertrappean beds of Kisalpuri and Kelapur, India, have yielded new amphibian and squamate reptile fossils that increase our knowledge of these groups. In addition to focusing on these two localities, we review the faunas of amphibians and squamates from other Maastrichtian intertrappean beds. In the Maastrichtian sites of India, aside from a possible salamander, amphibians are all anurans. Costata (formerly Discoglossidae) and Gobiatidae may be present and Neobatrachia are represented by four or five morphotypes. Importantly, one of the anurans (?Gobiatidae) appears identical to a form from the Late Cretaceous of Central Asia. Squamates are represented by lizards and snakes. Lizards comprise an Anguidae and five or six indeterminate taxa, including possible scincomorphs. Snakes include a primitive (possible stem) form, three Madtsoiidae, one Nigerophiidae, perhaps a booid, and a peculiar, unnamed taxon. These assemblages from Maastrichtian sites in India include taxa of both Laurasian and Gondwanan origins, but most taxa are still unidentifiable at the familial level and below.