EUTHERIAN TARSAL BONES FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS OF INDIA

Eutherian tarsal bones of Late Cretaceous age are reported for the fir st time from sedimentary beds intercalated with the Deccan Traps of pe ninsular India. The tarsal bones, represented mainly by calcanea and a stragali, occur in association with dental elements of palaeoryctid ma mmals: Deccanolestes hislopi Prasad and Sahni and D. robustus Prasad, Jaeger, Sahni, Gheerbrant, and Khajuria. Two size variants in the tars als correlate well with the teeth of D. hislopi and D. robustus. Morph ologically, the tarsal complex of Deccanolestes is quite different fro m that of other Cretaceous eutherians for which the relevant anatomy i s known (Protungulatum and Procerberus). Rather, the tarsals of Deccan olestes exhibit a close affinity to the tarsal morphology of Archonta. A large number of tarsal characters indicate a highly arboreal mode o f life for these animals. Presence of such specialized animals as earl y as the Cretaceous suggests that mammals had already diversified thei r locomotor adaptations by this time.