Kota Formation

The Kota Formation is a geological formation in India. The precise age of Kota Formation are uncertain, but it dates from the Early to Middle Jurassic, and is split into a Lower Member and Upper Member[1]. The lower member is thought to be Hettangian-Pliensbachian[2]. While the upper unit is thought to be Toarcian, but may possibly extend into the Aalenian.[3] It conformably overlies the Dharmaram Formation which is Late Triassic to earliest Jurassic and is unconformably overlain by the Early Cretaceous Gangapur Formation. The lower member is approximately 100 m thick while the upper member is 490 m thick. Both subunits primarily consist of mudstone and sandstone, but near the base of the upper unit there is a 20-30 metre thick succession of limestone deposited in a freshwater setting.[4]

Kota Formation Stratigraphic range: Early-Mid Jurassic ~200–174 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Geological formation
Sub-units	Lower & Upper members
Underlies	Unconformity with the Gangapur Formation
Overlies	Dharmaram Formation
Thickness	550–600 m (1,800–1,970 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Mudstone, sandstone
Other	Limestone
Location
Coordinates	18.9°N 80.0°E / 18.9; 80.0
Approximate paleocoordinates	31.6°S 31.9°E / -31.6; 31.9
Region	Telangana
Country	India
Extent	Pranhita-Godavari Basin
Type section
Named for	Kota Village
Kota Formation (India)

Fossil content

Early-Mid Jurassic (170 Ma)

Vertebrates

Indeterminate thyreophoran remains geographically present in Telangana State, India. These were given the name Andhrasaurus by Roman Ulansky in 2014.[2]

Ornithodires
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Barapasaurus	B. tagorei	Telangana State	Lower Member	"Scattered remains of more than [six] partial skeletons without skulls, manus, or pes."	[2][5]
Campylognathoides	C. indicus	Chanda District, Deccan			[6]
Dandakosaurus	D. indicus			"Proximal pubis."[7]	[2]
Kotasaurus	K. yamanpaliensis[2]	Telangana State[2]	Lower Member	"Nearly complete skeleton without skull."[8]	[2]

Testudinatans
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Indochelys[9]	I. spatulata	3 km NNE of Kistapur village, Pranhita River, Kota	Upper member	Carapace fragments[10]	Mesochelydian stem-turtle

Mammaliaformes
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Images
Gondtherium[1]	B. dattai[1]
Kotatherium[11]	K. haldanei[11]
Indotherium[12].	I. pranhitai[12]

Invertebrates

Insects[13][14]
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes
Kotaphialtites	K. frankmortoni	Sirpur Taluka, Tasch's K1 outcrop bed 2(A)			An ephialtitid hymenopteran.
Taschigatra	T. bharataja	Sirpur Taluka, Tasch's K1 outcrop bed 3(A)			A rhagionid dipteran.
	T. tulyabhijana	Sirpur Taluka, Tasch's K1 outcrop bed 2(A)			A rhagionid dipteran.
Xyelula	X. alexandri	Kota Formation outcrop K-2			A sepulcid hymenopteran.
Protogryllus	P. (Protogryllus) lakshmi	Kota Formation outcrop K-2			A protogryllid cricket

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
• Toarcian turnover
• Toarcian formations
  • Marne di Monte Serrone, Italy
  • Calcare di Sogno, Italy
  • Sachrang Formation, Austria
  • Posidonia Shale, Lagerstätte in Germany
  • Ciechocinek Formation, Germany and Poland
  • Krempachy Marl Formation, Poland and Slovakia
  • Lava Formation, Lithuania
  • Azilal Group, North Africa
  • Whitby Mudstone, England
  • Fernie Formation, Alberta and British Columbia
    • Poker Chip Shale
  • Whiteaves Formation, British Columbia
  • Navajo Sandstone, Utah
  • Los Molles Formation, Argentina
  • Mawson Formation, Antarctica
  • Kandreho Formation, Madagascar
  • Cattamarra Coal Measures, Australia

References

1. Prasad GVR, and Manhas BK. 2007. A new docodont mammal from the Jurassic Kota Formation of India. Palaeontologia electronica, 10.2: 1-11
2. Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Jurassic, Asia)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 534–535. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
3. Bandyopadhyay, Saswati; Gillette, David D.; Ray, Sanghamitra; Sengupta, Dhurjati P. (2010-03-19). "Osteology of Barapasaurus tagorei (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Early Jurassic of India: OSTEOLOGY OF BARAPASAURUS TAGOREI". Palaeontology. 53 (3): 533–569. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2010.00933.x.
4. Goswami, Suparna; Gierlowski-Kordesch, Elizabeth; Ghosh, Parthasarathi (January 2018). "Sedimentology of the Early Jurassic limestone beds of the Kota Formation: record of carbonate wetlands in a continental rift basin of India". Journal of Paleolimnology. 59 (1): 21–38. doi:10.1007/s10933-016-9918-y. ISSN 0921-2728.
5. "Table 13.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 263.
6. Wellnhofer, Peter (1991). "Summary of Lower Jurassic Pterosaurs." The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Pterosaurs. London, UK: Salamander Books Limited. p. 79. ISBN 0-86101-566-5.
7. "Table 4.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 78.
8. "Table 13.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 261.
9. Datta, P.M.; Manna, P.; Ghosh, S.C.; Das, D. P. (April 2000). "The First Jurassic turtle from India". Palaeontology. 43 (1): 99–109. doi:10.1111/1475-4983.00120. ISSN 0031-0239.
10. Joyce, Walter G.; Bandyopadhyay, Saswati (2020-02-11). "A reevaluation of the basal turtle Indochelys spatulata from the Early–Middle Jurassic (Toarcian–Aalenian) of India, with descriptions of new material". PeerJ. 8: e8542. doi:10.7717/peerj.8542. ISSN 2167-8359.
11. Datta PM. 1981. The first Jurassic mammal from India. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society of London, 73:307-312
12. Yadagiri P. 1984. New symmetrodonts from Kota Formation (Early Jurassic), India. Journal of the Geological Society of India, 25:514-621
13. Mostovski M.B., Jarzembowski E.A. 2000. The first brachycerous flies (Diptera: Rhagionidae) from the Lower Jurassic of Gondwana. Paleontological Journal 34 (Suppl. 3): 367-369.
14. Rasnitsyn A.P. 2008. New hymenopteran insects (Insecta: Vespida) from the Lower or Middle Jurassic of India. Paleontological Journal 42 (1): 81-85. Archived 2008-11-21 at the Wayback Machine