The First Potential Cordyliform (squamata, Scincoidea) from India (uppermost Cretaceous – Lowermost Paleocene): an African Lizard Clade Brings Possible Implications for Indo-Madagascar Biogeographic Links

We here report on a new lizard from the Deccan intertrappean strata (uppermost Cretaceous – lowermost Paleocene) of the recently discovered Kesavi locality, central India. The material consists of jaws and several osteoderms presumed to belong to a single taxon. Continental lower vertebrates of India of this age are scarce, but crucial since they document important information on the paleobiodiversity of this subcontinent and its paleobiogeographical significance during its northward journey. The new taxon Deccansaurus palaeoindicus gen. et sp. nov. is placed in the clade Scincoidea on the basis of its morphology, representing most likely a cordyliform lizard – the first, although tentative, evidence of this clade in India. Cordyliforms are strictly African Today, but their occurrence in India 66 Ma is not surprising. While India rifted away from Africa in the Late Jurassic, it remained connected to Madagascar until the Late Cretaceous (∼88 Ma). India was still close to Madagascar 66 Ma, where the cordyliform Konkasaurus is known from the latest Cretaceous. Interestingly, the Indian taxon shares many features with Konkasaurus. Nonetheless, these fossils offer a rare opportunity to document one reptile group which lived in India during the Cretaceous – Paleocene and highlighting some resemblance between Madagascar and Indian faunas at that time due to their former geographic positions.