Mahuadanr Valley (Pliocene of India)

Where: Jharkhand, India (23.4° N, 84.1° E: paleocoordinates 21.6° N, 84.1° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Rajdanda Formation, Pliocene (5.3 - 2.6 Ma)

• Late Neogene. "Earlier some workers have considered the age of the Rajdanda Formation to be Pliocene, but till date there is no definitive evidence for this." According to Drohojowska et al. (2023): "As of now, no absolute dating is available for this formation, but plant megafossil study and palynological analysis could correlate to being 'late Tertiary' (Pliocene). Occurrences of Sindora wood from the same formation typically indicate Pliocene age, as Sindora is an index fossil of the Pliocene age

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: lacustrine; lithified sandstone and lithified shale

• "a reducing lacustrine environment with fluvial incursions (possibly during flood events)"

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: adpression

Collection methods: Repository: Herbarium and Museum, Department of Botany, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, Purulia, India

Primary reference: M. Hazra, T. Hazra, S. K. Sarkar, S. Bera, and M. A. Khan. 2020. First fossil dragonfly from India. Current Science 119:1204-1207 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 214996: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 26.10.2020, edited by Mark Uhen and Bethany Allen

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

unclassified
  -
Angiospermae
 Sapindales - Anacardiaceae
Mangifera sp.2 Linnaeus 1753 mango
 Fabales - Fabaceae
Desmodium sp.2 Desvaux 1813 legume
Albizia mahuadanrensis n. sp.2 Hazra et al. 2021 legume
SKBUH/PPL/JH/81 (holotype)
Albizia palaeoprocera n. sp.2 Hazra et al. 2021 legume
SKBUH/PPL/JH/F1A (holotype)
Hopeoxylon speciosum4 Navale 1963 legume
Cassia sp.2 Linnaeus 1753 legume
 Rosales - Rhamnaceae
Ziziphus sp.2 Miller 1758 buckthorn
 Rosids - Moraceae
Ficus sp.2 Linnaeus 1753 fig
Dicotyledoneae
 Myrtales - Combretaceae
Terminalia sp.2 Linnaeus 1767
 Myrtales - Lythraceae
Lagerstroemia sp.2 Linnaeus 1753 crepe myrtle
 Myrtales - Myrtaceae
Psidium sp.2 Linnaeus 1753 guava
Angiospermae
 Gentianales - Rubiaceae
Mitragyna sp.2 Korthals coffee
Gardenia sp.2 Ellis 1761 coffee
Insecta
 Odonata - Libellulidae
Libellulidae indet. Rambur 1842 common skimmer
SKBUH/PPL/JH/I2
 Hemiptera - Aleyrodidae
Praealeurolobus indicus n. gen. n. sp.1
Praealeurolobus indicus n. gen. n. sp.1 Drohojowska et al. 2023 whitefly
SKBUH/PPL/JH/I2
 Diptera - Cecidomyiidae
? Cecidomyiidae indet.1 Newman 1834 gall midge
SKBUH/PPL/JH/I3
Actinopteri
 Cypriniformes - Cyprinidae
Leuciscinae indet.3 Howes 1991 carp-like fish