Lower vertebrates from the Late Palaeocene-Earliest Eocene Akli Formation, Giral Lignite Mine, Barmer District, western India

The first assemblage of lower vertebrates comprising fish, crocodilians and snakes is recorded from subsurface beds of the Akli Formation sampled from the Giral Lignite Mine about 40 km NNW of Barmer in Rajasthan. The fish comprise sharks, rays, lepisosteids, osteoglossids, pycnodontids and enchodontids and include among others Squatina, Ginglymostoma, Jaekelotodus, and Gymnura, which previously were not known from the subcontinent, an unnamed new species of Dasyatis, and two unidentified ?pycnodontid-like teleosteans. Reptiles are represented by crocodilians and ?boid snakes. The fauna supports a Late Palaeocene-Lower Eocene age and a coastal marine deposition under tropical-temperate conditions.