Hybodont sharks from the Jurassic of Jaisalmer, western India
Krishna Kumar, Sunil Bajpai, Pragya Pandey, Triparna Ghosh, Debasish Bhattacharya
Abstract
Jurassic (Bathonian-Oxfordian) hybodont sharks are described for the first time from the Jaisalmer Basin of Rajasthan, western India. Isolated, possibly associated, crushing-type hybodont teeth recovered from the Jaisalmer Formation (Fort, Badabag and Jajiya members) are assigned to two species of Strophodus: Strophodus jaisalmerensis sp. nov. and Strophodus sp. Strophodus, long considered to be a junior synonym of the iconic ninteenth century genus Asteracanthus, has recently been shown to be distinct from the latter. This is the first record of Strophodus from the Indian subcontinent and it significantly expands the distribution of this genus in the Jurassic of the eastern Tethys. The hybodont-bearing horizons yielded an assemblage of vertebrates (e.g. pycnodont fishes, crocodilians), invertebrates and fossil wood, suggesting a near-shore marine environment for the new species.