Triassic temnospondyls of the Pranhita – Godavari basin, India Dhurjati Prasad Sengupta Geological Studies Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, 203 B.T. Road, Calcutta 700108, India Received 5 September 2001; accepted 6 August 2002 Abstract The Pranhita – Godavari (P – G) basin of central India has yielded Early, Middle and Late Triassic temnospondyl families. Bracyops laticeps, the type for the family Brachyopidae was first described from the Lower Triassic ‘Mangli Beds’ of the northernmost extension of the P–G basin. In the northern and central parts of the P – G basin itself, the Middle Triassic Yerrapalli Formation has Stanocephalosaurus rajareddyi,a paracyclotosaurid, and the Upper Triassic Maleri Formation has Buettneria maleriensis, a metoposaurid and two other chigutisaurid taxa, Compsocerops cosgriffi and Kuttycephalus triangularis. A critical review of Triassic temnospondyls of the P–G basin indicates that the affinities of S. rajareddyi and K. triangularis are somewhat uncertain and discovery of further material is necessary to establish their relationships among similar temnospondyls of the world. It is also noted that B. maleriensis is displaced by the two chigutisaurid genera and species at the Carnian – Norian boundary. Thus, P – G basin is unique in having Pangaean metoposaurids and exclusively Gondwanan chigutisaurids in successive faunal zones within the same formation. Significantly, the end of Carnian is marked by the demise of metoposaurids in India as well as in Africa and Europe. In North America, their size appears to have diminished during that time. q 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Temnospondyls; Triassic; Pranhita – Godavari basin; India 1. Introduction Amphibians of the extinct Subclass Labyrinthodontia and Order Temnospondyli (von Zittel, 1888) had superficial similarities with the present-day crocodiles and were important members of the Triassic aquatic and semi-aquatic faunal community. In India, there are a number of Triassic temnospondyl taxa known from various lithostratigraphic units of different basins. The Pranhita–Godavari (P–G) Basin of central India has yielded well-preserved specimens of different temnospondyl families from Early, Middle and Late Triassic Period. This is virtually the only Gondwana basin in India, which has a continuous record of the continental Triassic (Fig. 1). Triassic temnospondyls from P–G basin were studied mainly from fragmentary material during the later part of 19th and the early part of the 20th century (Owen, 1855; Lydekker, 1885; von Huene, 1940. Most of the old collections were surface fragments. However, during the last four decades, systematic and careful collection of in situ material led to the discoveries of complete skulls and post-cranial bones. Four temnospondyl families have so far been recorded from the P–G basin. Bracyops laticeps was the first to be described from the Lower Triassic Mangli ‘beds’, coeval with upper part of the Kamthi Formation (Hughes, 1877) in the northernmost extension of the P – G basin. In the northern and central parts of the basin, the Middle Triassic Yerrapalli Formation yielded specimens that are now considered as members of the family Paracyclotosauridae. The Upper Triassic Maleri Formation has the Metoposauridae and the Chigutisauridae occurring, respectively, in the lower and upper parts of the formation. There are two major aspects of the Triassic temnospon- dyls of the P – G basin which need critical reviews. Recently, many temnospondyl families have been reviewed by several authors and taxonomic status of some of the temnospondyls from India has been questioned. An analysis of the present taxonomic status of the temnospondyls of P – G basin will be carried out first. Secondly, temnospondyl occurrences of the P–G basin show interesting admixture of Pangaean elements with those restricted only to Gondwana. The stratigraphic range and geographical occurrences of some Triassic temnospondyl families will also be discussed with special reference to the P–G basin. 1367-9120/03/$ - see front matter q 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S1367-9120(02)00114-1 Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 21 (2003) 655–662 www.elsevier.com/locate/jseaes E-mail address: dhurjati@isical.ac.in (D.P. Sengupta).