Basal Late Miocene mammal fauna from Tapar and Pasuda, Kachchh

The Kachchh Peninsula, Gujarat, western India, contains a series of Neogene terrestrial and marine deposits overlying Palaeogene, Cretaceous and Jurassic rocks. Previous studies based on rare and scattered occurrences of terrestrial mammals suggested that only Early and basal Middle Miocene strata were represented in the Neogene of the region, but recent field research has extended the fossil register into the Late Miocene, with taxa such as Hipparion, Kachchhchoerus salinus and Tetraconodon indicus being represented at Tapar and Pasuda. The aim of this contribution is to describe the new collections of mammals from Kachchh in order to refine the biochronology of the deposits. A review of previously known faunas is included to complete the terrestrial Neogene biostratigraphy of the Kachchh sediments.