Abstract The history of dinosaur collecting in central India (former Central Provinces and Central India Agency) began in 1828 when W. H. Sleeman discovered isolated sauropod caudal vertebrae in the Lameta Formation near Jabalpur. Subsequently, the area became a focal point for fossil collection, leading to a series of further discoveries that continues today. The earliest discoveries were made by numerous collectors for whom palaeontology was a secondary pursuit, and who were employed in the armed forces (W. H. Sleeman and W. T. Nicolls), medicine (G. G. Spilsbury) or as geologists (T. Oldham, H. B. Medlicott, T. W. H. Hughes and C. A. Matley). Most of their finds were concentrated around Jabalpur or farther south near Pisdura and often consisted of isolated, surface-collected bones. Charles Matley undertook the two most extensive collecting efforts, in 1917–1919 and 1932–1933 (Percy Sladen Trust Expedition). As a result he discovered significant deposits of dinosaurs on Bara Simla and Chhota Simla, revisited Pisdura, and mapped the Lameta Formation. Many new dinosaur taxa resulted from Matley's studies, which still represent most of the known Lameta Formation dinosaur fauna. Current scientific understanding places these fossils among the Sauropoda (as titanosaurians) and Theropoda (as abelisaurids and noasaurids). Early reports of armoured ornithischians were erroneous; these materials also pertain to sauropods and theropods. Supplementary material: A list of the archival documents in the Natural History Museum, London that were used for this study is available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18418 .

Abstract: Late Cretaceous-Early Paleogene sediments associated with Deccan Continental Flood Basalt (DCFB) sequences of central and western India record the timing of the introduction and extinction of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs in India based on magnetostratigraphy and magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy. Current taxonomy indicates that only two genera of titanosaurs (e.g., Isisaurus and Jainosaurus), at least four species of large-bodied abelisauridae theropods (e.g., Rajasaurus narmadensis, Rahiolisaurus gujaratensis, Indosuchus matleyi and Indosaurus raptorius) and a small-bodied theropod Laevisuchus inhabited India during the Maastrichtian. Their stratigraphic and geographic distribution suggests that these dinosaurs were dominated by titanosauriforme and abelisauridae that first appeared before the advent of Deccan volcanism in the magnetochron C30n and were well established with the acme of breeding and nesting during C30n to maastrichtian C29r. Their decline in diversity and abundance coincides with initiation of DCFB eruptions when most of the early taxa were terminated and only a few titanosauriforme sauropods survived becoming extinct at about 350 kyr before the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary (KPB). Dinosaur extinction in India is thus directly tied to Deccan volcanism with no evidence of an asteroid impact.

Abstract : Contrasting opinions have been expressed by different workers about the palaeo-environments of the Lameta Formation of Jabalpur. Some workers have ascribed a shallow marine/estuarine environment of depositions for its sediments, while others have favoured a non-marine interpretation. The present authors have recently recorded 26 ostracod species from the basal beds of Lameta Formation from three classic localities (i.e., Chui Hill, Bara Simla Hill and Chhota Simla Hill). These are univocally freshwater fauna. Khosla and Sahni (2000) earlier proposed Late Cretaceous Mongolian and Chinese affinities for the ostracod fauna of the Lameta Formation of Jabalpur. Whatley and Bajpai (2006) considered them strongly endemic to India. Our study revealed an African and/or South American zoogeographic affinity. The genera common to these continents are Altanicypris , Neuquenocypris, Paracypretta, Stenocypris and Wolburgiopsis .