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Eutherian tarsal bones from the Late Cretaceous of India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

G. V. R. Prasad  and
M. Godinot
G. V. R. Prasad
Affiliation:
P. G. Department of Geology, University of Jammu, Jammu Tawi, India
M. Godinot
Affiliation:
Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, L.A.327, Case Courrier 64 Faculté des Sciences, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095, Montpellier Cedex 05, France
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Abstract

Eutherian tarsal bones of Late Cretaceous age are reported for the first time from sedimentary beds intercalated with the Deccan Traps of peninsular India. The tarsal bones, represented mainly by calcanea and astragali, occur in association with dental elements of palaeoryctid mammals: Deccanolestes hislopi Prasad and Sahni and D. robustus Prasad, Jaeger, Sahni, Gheerbrant, and Khajuria. Two size variants in the tarsals correlate well with the teeth of D. hislopi and D. robustus. Morphologically, the tarsal complex of Deccanolestes is quite different from that of other Cretaceous eutherians for which the relevant anatomy is known (Protungulatum and Procerberus). Rather, the tarsals of Deccanolestes exhibit a close affinity to the tarsal morphology of Archonta. A large number of tarsal characters indicate a highly arboreal mode of life for these animals. Presence of such specialized animals as early as the Cretaceous suggests that mammals had already diversified their locomotor adaptations by this time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 68 , Issue 4 , July 1994 , pp. 892 - 902
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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