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Rodent fossils from Dharmsala Group in Himachal Pradesh: Addition to pre-Siwalik Himalayan Miocene fauna

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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

While constraining Cenozoic evolution of the Himalaya through enlightening fossils we find that Dharmsala Group (intervening Subathu Group and Siwalik Group) in Kangra Valley and adjoining coevals yield sporadic fossils. Hence, this first record of fossil rodents from Dharmsala Group is an important addition to an earlier report of dinothere from these horizons. The rodent material from grey facies of the Dharmsala Group comprises of an isolated premolar and fragments of a tooth and an incisor. Available crown details in conjunction with distinctive dimensions of the premolar lead to its assignment to Hodsahibia, a baluchimyine taxon; this taxon of Eocene lineage of south Asian-African distribution is already on record from early Oligocene horizons in Bugti area, Pakistan.

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Bhandari, A., Tiwari, B.N. Rodent fossils from Dharmsala Group in Himachal Pradesh: Addition to pre-Siwalik Himalayan Miocene fauna. J Geol Soc India 83, 676–680 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-014-0099-x

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