Discovery of the chitinozoans Belonechitina capitata from the Shiala Formation of northeastern Garhwal-Kumaon Tethys Himalaya, Pithoragarh District, Uttrakhand, India

•Belonechitina capitata is a typical middle to late Ordovician chitinozoan index taxon.•Abundant B. capitata recovered for the first time from the Shiala Formation of northeastern Kumaon region, India.•The recovered fauna is commonly fragmentary and black, suggesting a considerable thermal exposure.•Melanosclerites found together with chitinozoans.

Belonechitina capitata, a typically middle to late Ordovician chitinozoan index taxon was for the first time recovered from the northeastern Kumaon region, a part of Garhwal-Kumaon Tethys basin of the Himalaya, India. This species is of great biostratigraphic importance and has already been reported from Avalonia, Baltica and northern Gondwana. The study area was during Ordovician, part of a low-palaeolatitudinal Gondwana region. The vesicles of recovered forms are black and fragmentary. This is principally attributed to intense tectonic activity during the Himalayan orogenic movement which resulted into high thermal alteration. The chitinozoans are found along with melanosclerites.

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