Ptychodus decurrens Agassiz (Elasmobranchii: Ptychodontidae) from the Upper Cretaceous of India

Although a very high invertebrate faunal diversity is known from the outcrops of the Ariyalur group in the Cauvery Basin, southern India, little is known about its vertebrate fauna. Recent fieldwork in the badland exposures of the Karai Formation (Upper Cenomanian–Lower Turonian) near Garudamangalam in the basin has yielded two teeth belonging to the Late Cretaceous shark Ptychodus decurrens (Ptychodontidae). The fossil record of Ptychodus decurrens from the southern continents is very poor, being known from a single Late/Middle Albian occurrence in Australia. This finding documents the first record of fossil P. decurrens in India and second from a Gondwanan landmass, and provides the first evidence of a cosmopolitan, Pangaean, distribution of the species during the Albian–Turonian and additional insights into the palaeoecology of the Cauvery Basin during the deposition of the Karai Formation.

► This paper describes the Late Cretaceous shark Ptychodus decurrens (Ptychodontidae) from the Cauvery Basin, India.
► The species is found in association with an ichthyofauna comprising squaliform, hexanchiform and lamniform sharks, and ichthyosaur remains.
► Extends the geographical distribution of Ptychodus decurrens into Gondwanan landmasses.
► Paper also describes the palaeobiogeographical implication of the new find.