Introduction of Indian Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Eggs and Eggshells of Peninsular India

Abstract

Indian Late Cretaceous dinosaur nests, eggs and eggshell fragments have been widely recorded from the infra- and intertrappean sediments, which are distributed along the eastern, northeastern, northwestern margins, southern and southeastern margins of the Deccan Traps. This work was undertaken to bring detailed information for the first detailed descriptions of dinosaur nesting sites of peninsular India. This chapter records field and laboratory studies of dinosaurian eggs embedded in Lameta Formation and eggshells in intertrappean beds intercalated between the Deccan traps. The dinosaur eggs and eggshell-bearing localities have been divided into seven sectors (Jabalpur, Dhar, Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh; Anjar, Kheda and Panchmahal in Gujarat; and Pisdura in Maharashtra). The dinosaur-egg-rich Lameta Formation is variable and shows its thickest development (45 m) at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. It is 20 m thick in the Panchmahal and Kheda Districts of the Gujarat, 4–5 m thick in the Jhabua and Dhar Districts of Madhya Pradesh and 1–11 m thick at Pisdura and Nand-Dongargaon (Chandrapur District, Maharashtra). Fossil collections were made during 19 field trips from 1991 through 2020, and a total of 22 stratigraphic successions containing dinosaur nests have been selected for the present study. Detailed investigations were carried out to elucidate the morphotaxonomy, taphonomy and petrography, and the palaeoenvironmental, palaeoecological, biostratigraphical and palaeobiogeographical implications of the dinosaur-bearing Lameta Formation.