Biological Consequences of Plate Tectonics

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xlvii

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2. First Ornithischian and Theropod Dinosaur Teeth from the Middle Jurassic Kota Formation of India: Paleobiogeographic Relationships

   • Guntupalli V. R. Prasad, Varun Parmar

   Pages 1-30

3. Upper Gondwana (Jurassic to Early Cretaceous) Palynoflora of India: Its Correlation with Other Gondwana Continents and Phytogeographical Implications

   • Shreya Mishra, Vandana Prasad

   Pages 31-66

4. A Third, Remarkably Small, Tribosphenic Mammal from the Mesozoic of Australia

   • Thomas H. Rich, Peter Trusler, Lesley Kool, David Pickering*, Alistair Evans, Karen Siu et al.

   Pages 67-75

5. Evidence for a Remarkably Large Toothed-Monotreme from the Early Cretaceous of Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia

   • Thomas H. Rich, Timothy F. Flannery, Patricia Vickers-Rich

   Pages 77-81

6. Role of Plate Tectonics and Global Climate Change in the Evolution of Angiosperms

   • Vandana Prasad, Shreya Mishra, Ashish K. Mishra, Mahi Bansal

   Pages 83-98

7. Anuran Lissamphibian and Squamate Reptiles from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) Deccan Intertrappean Sites in Central India, with a Review of Lissamphibian and Squamate Diversity in the Northward Drifting Indian Plate

   • Jean-Claude Rage, Guntupalli V. R. Prasad, Omkar Verma, Ashu Khosla, Varun Parmar

   Pages 99-121

8. Chelonian Pelomedusoides Remains from the Late Cretaceous of Upparhatti (Southwestern India): Systematics and Paleobiogeographical Implications

   • France de Lapparent de Broin, Guntupalli V. R. Prasad

   Pages 123-180

9. The Age of Dinosaurs in the Land of Gonds

   • Sankar Chatterjee

   Pages 181-226

10. Leaving Gondwana: The Changing Position of the Indian Subcontinent in the Global Faunal Network

    • Thomas J. D. Halliday, Patricia A. Holroyd, Emmanuel Gheerbrant, Guntupalli V. R. Prasad, Agustín Scanferla, Robin M. D. Beck et al.

    Pages 227-249

11. Island Africa and Vertebrate Evolution: A Review of Data and Working Hypotheses

    • Jean-Claude Rage*, Emmanuel Gheerbrant

    Pages 251-264

12. Contrasting Biomarker Signatures of Cretaceous and Early Paleogene Coal-Bearing Sediments During the Northward Flight of India

    • Swagata Paul, Suryendu Dutta

    Pages 265-278

13. New Specimens of Frugivastodon (Mammalia: Apatotheria) from the Early Eocene of India Confirm Its Apatemyid Status and Elucidate Dispersal of Apatemyidae

    • Floréal Solé, Eric De Bast, Hélène Legendre, Rajendra S. Rana, Kishor Kumar, Kenneth D. Rose et al.

    Pages 279-304

14. Size Variation Amongst the Non-volant Mammals from the Early Eocene Cambay Shale Deposits of Western India: Paleobiogeographic implications

    • Vivesh V. Kapur

    Pages 305-335

15. Indohyus, Endemic Radiation of Raoellid Artiodactyls in the Eocene of India and Pakistan

    • J. G. M. Thewissen, A. C. Nanda, Sunil Bajpai

    Pages 337-346

16. The Murine Cradle

    • Lawrence J. Flynn, Yuri Kimura, Louis L. Jacobs

    Pages 347-362

17. New Data on the Siwalik Murines, Rhizomyines and Ctenodactylines (Rodentia) from the Indian Subcontinent

    • Rajeev Patnaik

    Pages 363-391

18. Dispersal of Miocene Hominoids (and Pliopithecoids) from Africa to Eurasia in Light of Changing Tectonics and Climate

    • Christopher C. Gilbert, Kelsey D. Pugh, John G. Fleagle

    Pages 393-412

19. Back Matter

    Pages 413-432

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This book recognizes and celebrates the contributions of Professor Ashok Sahni to the field of paleontology. Prof. Sahni established a School of Vertebrate Palaeontology at Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, where he trained many of today’s vertebrate paleontologists of India. The book covers topics on evolutionary patterns, macroevolutionary events, origination and radiation events, changes in physical environments & climate and their implications for biodiversity dynamics, intercontinental affinities and biogeographic connections in a plate tectonic framework. 

The book begins by exploring India in the age of the dinosaurs, discussing new fossil remains from the Jurassic Era, then moves through the Cretaceous and Eocene to provide a picture on faunal and floral changes in Gondwanaland in the context of plate tectonics. Furthermore, the book explores the evolutionary patterns and biotic dispersals that resulted from the northward drift of Indian plate during the Cretaceous and its collision with Asia in the Eocene. The respective chapters reveal the role of plate tectonics and climate in shaping the geographical distribution of plants and animals in Gondwana, specifically in India, as well as the post-India/Asia collision implications for biodiversity changes and biogeography in the region’s continental environments. Given its scope, the book will appeal to vertebrate paleontologists, evolutionary biologists, and paleobiogeographers.

• Biogeography
• Plate tectonics
• Biodiversity
• Ornithischian
• Saurischian
• Cretaceous
• Paleontology
• Eocene
• Evolutionary Biology
• Continental Collisions
• Post-collision Climate of India
• Neogene-Quaternary Mammalian Dispersals
• Professor Ashok Sahni
• Dinosaurs of India
• Model vertebrates

“This volume is a welcome contribution to a palaeontologist’s library. It provides a good synthesis on the current state of palaeontology in India, offering new insights to old questions. The opus is well illustrated and the text makes for easy reading. The authors are commended for their valuable contributions. … the volume is highly recommended for those wanting to delve into eastern Gondwana during the late Mesozoic and Paleogene.” (Fernando Abdala, Ameghiniana, Vol. 58 (3), 2021)

• Department of Geology, Center for Advanced Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

  Guntupalli V.R. Prasad

• Center of Advanced Study in Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India

  Rajeev Patnaik

Dr. Guntupalli V.R. Prasad received his Ph.D. from Panjab University, Chandigarh in the year 1986. He is a former Professor at the University of Jammu and Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (Kolkata). He is presently a Professor in the Department of Geology, University of Delhi, India. Prof. Prasad has more than 34 years teaching experience at Graduate and undergraduate level. A vertebrate paleontologist by training, he has been working for the last three and half decades on the evolution of Mesozoic vertebrates of India using form and function of vertebrate fossils.  Prasad’s research has focused primarily on biodiversity changes during the time span of Deccan volcanism which brought many new species of fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals to light and also provided paleontological constraints on the age of initiation and duration of Deccan Volcanism. His research has also thrown light on faunal dispersals and biogeographic linkages between the physically isolated and rapidly northward drifting Indian plate and other landmasses. Dr. Prasad’s findings of diverse mammalian groups from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of India have firmly placed India on Mesozoic mammalian map of the world. Author of more than 100 scientific papers published in leading journals in his field of specialization as well as high impact journals like Nature, Science, Nature Communications, and Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, Prof. Prasad received Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, India’s highest science award, for his outstanding contributions in the field Vertebrate Paleontology.  Other recognitions received by Prof. Prasad include J.C.Bose National Fellowship, National Geoscience Award, L. Rama Rao Birth Centenary Award, and National Award in Geosciences & Technology. He has been honored with the Fellowship of the Indian National Science Academy (FNA), Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc.), National Academy of Sciences (FNASc.), and Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).

Dr. Rajeev Patnaik did his Ph.D at Panjab University, Chandigarh and Post-Doctoral fellowships at Paläontologische Museum München, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Germany and Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, France. By integrating aspects of stable isotopes, microwear, morphometrics, cladistics and enamel microstructure, he has been able to contribute towards the understanding of diet and evolution of some Indian fossil mammals such as murine rodents and primate/hominins. He has also worked on the impact of climate change, palaeoecology, palaeobiogeography and geological context of  Indian Neogene mammals with particular focus on the hominoids. He and his colleagues discovered new hominoids/primates, ostrich-like eggshells, new pelican and darter fossils from the Siwaliks (subhimalaya); Late Cretaceous rice from central India; and Miocene mammals from the Baripada Beds of Odisha. He has published over 100 research papers in reputed journals and has served as Associate Editor for scholarly journals such as Journal of Human Evolution, Current Science and Journal of the Geological Society of India. In 2016 he was awarded the prestigious National Geoscience Award by the Honourable President of India and in 2019 was elected as a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences.

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