Chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fauna from the middle Miocene deposits of Palasava, Kutch, India:implication for paleoenvironment and paleobiogeography

The Neogene of Kutch, India is well known for its rich marine and terrestrial vertebrate assemblages. However, the data piscean fauna from middle Miocene very scarce. We report here additional chondrichthyan osteichthyan remains deposit Chhasra Formation, Palasava site, Gujarat, India. elasmobranchs include Carcharhinus Blainville, 1816 (C. brevipinna (Müller & Henle, 1839), C. falciformis cf. leucas, aff. perezi, sp.), Negaprion Whitley, 1940 (Negaprion Aetobatus (Aetobatus Myliobatis Cuvier, (Myliobatis Dasyatis Rafinesque, 1810 (D. probsti Cappetta, 1970, D. rugosa Probst, 1877), Himantura Müller 1837 (H. menoni Sahni Mehrotra, 1981), Pastinachus Rüppell, 1829 (Pastinachus Taeniurops Garman, 1913 (­Taeniurops sp.). teleosts are represented by four families including Bagridae Bleeker, 1858, Channidae Fowler, 1934, Characidae Latreille, 1925 Cyprinidae 1817. Sørensen-Dice coefficient show a good similarity index with their counterparts in Mediterranean Sea suggesting existence short-lived reopening pathway. much higher faunal affinity those Eastern Pacific indicates gradual shift migration path through Ocean to Indo-Pacific region after permanent landbridge was formed. suggests coastal, marginal marine, near-shore littoral ­neritic environment deposition influence freshwater riverine system. integration floras faunas locality presence warm, humid/wet, tropical sub-tropical environmental conditions during Miocene.